Hollyleaf's second chance
by storm-eyes-osprey
Summary: what if hollyleaf was never meant to die? what if she was given a second chance? returning to thunderclan as a young rogue, hollyleaf must keep her true identity hidden, and try to work out the meaning of an ominous prophecy; or the survival of the clans may be at stake... first fanfic so no hate please, but I will welcome constructive criticism! rated 't' just to be safe.
1. alliances and prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own warrior cats

Alliances

Thunderclan

Leader: bramblestar

Deputy: squirrelflight

Medicine cat: jayfeather

Warriors:

Brackenfur

Cloudtail

Brightheart

Millie

Thornclaw

Leafpool

Spiderleg

Birchfall

Whitewing

Berrynose

Hazeltail

Mousewhisker

Lionblaze

Foxleap

Icecloud

Toadstep

Rosepetal

Bumblestripe

Ivypool

Sorreltail

Poppyfrost

Molefur

cherrytail

Apprentices:

Seedpaw (mentor: toadstep)

Lilypaw (mentor: foxleap)

Dewpaw (mentor: mousewhisker)

Amberpaw (mentor: sorreltail)

Snowpaw (mentor: icecloud)

Queens:

Cinderheart (mother to honeykit and featherkit)

Dovewing (mother to briarkit, deepkit and pebblekit)

Daisy

Elders:

Purdy

Sandstorm

Greystripe

Dustpelt

Prologue

Hollyleaf looked nervously at the cat before her. Despite seeing him many times before, she couldn't quite get over how he looked. With milky, blind, egg shaped eyes that bulged out of his head and a twisted, furless body, he looked far from intimidating, yet hollyleaf still feared him.

"rock." She greeted, dipping her head respectfully.

"You summoned me." The grotesque cat dipped his head in return.

"hollyleaf." He rasped, the words sounding like both smooth running water and claws scraping over stone.

"Come…" rock continued, turning away from the black starclan she-cat that stood by him, and padding back into the tunnels he emerged from. Hollyleaf gulped and followed. Despite spending many seasons in tunnels like this in her previous life, she still felt apprehensive. She continued into the darkness, her sensitive whiskers brushing against the uneven walls. After what seemed like moons, hollyleaf and rock emerged into a stone-walled clearing, in which was a glittering blue lake, encrusted with starlight.

"hollyleaf" rock began, sitting down and curling his skinny, hairless tail around his body.

"I have summoned you for something very important. I know you have been in starclan for some moons now, but you were never meant to be here in the first place."

"What!" exclaimed hollyleaf

"I-I don't understand!"

"Hollyleaf,"Continued rock, fixing her in his blind gaze.

"you were never meant to die. It was ivypool that should be here in starclan, not you. That is why you are here. I want to give you a second chance." The ancient cat stood up and crossed over to the shimmering lake.

"Look" he rasped. Hollyleaf looked at the surface, but could only see starlight.

"look closer…" encouraged rock. Hollyleaf stiffened. He read her mind! Shuddering, the black she-cat turned her attention back to the lake. She squinted at the surface, and gasped. A black cat, looking only about five moons old lay on the lake bed, blood streaming out of a ragged gash on her back.

"if you accept my offer, this is the cat you will become, you will be named only holly, a rouge injured by a hawk on the outskirts of thunderclan territory. If you do not accept, this cat will die, and you will return to starclan. Do you accept?" in the spur of the moment, hollyleaf blurted out

"yes! Yes!", and before she could think she began to feel herself being dragged towards the glittering lake. She tried in vain to cry out, but her head was plunged under the icy water, and, as her vision began to darken, she heard a disembodied voice ringing in her ears

'_The holly's leaves are evergreen, but even they can be destroyed in the harshest frosts…'_

**authors note: I just want to say that reviews are really appreciated, and I always try to look at your fan fictions if you review or favorite/follow mine!**


	2. Chapter 1: first breath

**Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.**

Hollyleaf felt something prod her in the side. She let out an annoyed growl and rolled over. Suddenly, she yowled as white hot pain shot down her back. Everything came crashing back. Rock, and the lake, and the water and the- her thoughts were cut off by a high-pitched squeal.

"lilypaw!" exclaimed a cat, who hollyleaf thought was foxleap.

"You nearly deathened me!" hollyleaf opened her eyes cautiously and looked around. There was a patrol of five cats staring at her. She recognised them all: Sorreltail, foxleap, lilypaw, cloudtail and leafpool. _Oh mother…_ sighed hollyleaf to herself, looking longingly at leafpools kind, golden eyes. _I'm sorry for leaving you…_

"Oh thank starclan!" exclaimed sorreltail, shutting her eyes with an expression of relief on her face.

"You're alive!" Hollyleaf felt confused. Why wouldn't she be alive? Then she remembered the hawk attack as if the memories were her own. The ripping talons, thrashing wings and spine-breaking plummet to the forest floor… the memories flooded in, the tunnels collapsing, the feeling of her claws tearing through ashfur's throat, the battle with snowtuft and hawkfrost, and her last goodbyes to her clanmates. It all felt too much. She began to feel dizzy; the pool of blood that dripped from the wound in her back seemed to drown her; her eyes locked shut and everything went dark

_Rock was pacing back and forth by the starlight-filled lake. His clouded eyes displayed no expression, yet the worry was clear on his face. A huge ginger tom padded into the clearing, the stone walls clearly visible through his faded form. _

_"What troubles you, rock?" he asked, tipping his golden tabby head inquisitively to the side. _

_"Oh thunderstar…" sighed the furless cat, shaking his head despairingly. " Everything has gone wrong…" thunderstar looked into the lake, and saw hollyleaf's new body lying unconscious, twitching and moaning. _

_"the memory wipe of her new body failed, and the strain of supporting the memories of two cats is driving her to insanity!" the ancient cat slithered to the ground, still shaking his head furiously. thunderstar was inwardly shocked, as this was the first time he had ever seen rock in such a panicked state. _

_"Calm down, rock." The ginger tabby advised, the words feeling strange, as it was something hardly ever said to the blind tunnel guardian. _

_"There must be a way to fix this."_

_ "th-there is, thunderstar, but it will be risky." Affirmed rock, staggering to his feet, but lowering his head to look at the the ground. _

_"I will have to visit hollyleaf in a dream. Once I have done that, I can try to extract the second soul; however, I may pick the wrong soul, and end up destroying hollyleaf forever…" Rock explained to thunderstar, who then replied _

_"Is that the only way?" Rock nodded, and thunderstar finished _

_"Then so be it. You must try, rock, or the prophecy will be useless, and clans may never live in the forest again… _


	3. Chapter 2: madness

**note: I'm really sorry if this story is rubbish, but its my first fanfic, so I'll hopefully get better over time!**

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

Hollyleaf was going mad. She lay on her side, twitching feebly, moaning as stream after stream of unexplainable emotions and memories. In the rare times that she drifted into consciousness, a huge surge of sadness, anger, worry, hatred and dread crashed over her and beat her back into a fitful sleep. She knew vaguely where she was, yet she didn't at the same time: her mind seemed to be at war with its self! Hollyleaf didn't know how long she had laid there, insanity wracking her mind and body. For all she knew, it could have been as short as a heartbeat or as long as a moon. Clarity and peace of mind was a hard thing to remember, as the two souls that inhabited one body duelled with one another, battling for supremacy.

Suddenly, the maddened cat felt a rough, cold paw touch her side, and she fought to control her jerking limbs and move her head to look. Her vision swam in and out of focus and the cat touching her seemed to swing violently side to side, yet a tiny voice of sanity managed to speak above the chaos, and the world snapped into focus for a single, weight-lifting second, and she recognised rock, the very cat that had sent her to this madness. She hissed at him warningly as he slid his paws up her neck, and then gasped as she felt something break away inside of her. A great coldness swept through her, and a haze of blue mist trailed from her open mouth, merging into the form of a young cat as it ran out of the den and up to the sky, trailing stars at its pawsteps. Hollyleaf collapsed to the ground, feeling exhausted and empty; yet she felt a great burden had been lifted. Her mind was clear again, and, despite the pain in her back from her injury, she slept peacefully, feeling content for the first time in this new world.

**another Note: me and my good friend orphanblack2000 are planning to write a warrior cats/criminal minds crossover, so reveiws to tell me which 4 cats should be turned into humans would be greatly appreciated! also, I am planning my next story, which will hopefully be posted when this one is finished, however I have two options, so I need to find out weather you would prefer a jayfeather X OC story, or a story about scourges 'foster' daughter (one of my OC's) getting revenge on the clans.  
**


	4. Chapter 3: medicine den

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

The next morning, hollyleaf woke up to the sight of a dark grey kit leaning over her and smiling.

"Finally!" he exclaimed, twitching his whiskers in an amused way

"Jayfeather! She's woken up!" "What's your name?" asked the kit, bouncing around the den excitedly

"I'm deepkit!"

"hollyle-" hollyleaf broke off. '_Mouse-brain!_' she hissed to her-self in frustration, but deepkit seemed too busy bouncing around to notice her mistake.

"Sorry?" asked the little kit

"I didn't quite hear you!"

"Oh.. ummm.." she gasped, flustered.

"umm.. Holly!" she remembered.

"Yes. My name is holly." The sooty coloured she-cat nodded in affirmation.

"hmmmm…holly is your name, you say?" asked a voice from behind holly, who whipped her head round in surprise to see a grey tabby cat with glassy, blind blue eyes that seemed to reach into her soul.

"j-jayfeather!" exclaimed holly in surprize, so glad to see her brother that she let her guard slip for a second. Suddenly, rock's raspy voice sounded by her ear, making her head hurt. '_fool!' _it hissed '_you will give yourself away!' _Holly snapped her mouth shut, her sharp teeth clicking together painfully.

"How do you know my name!" demanded jayfeather, thrusting his face closer to hers, so close that she could feel his breath on her whiskers. Despair curled a knot in holly's stomach, and she shut her eyes tight. How could she be so stupid! Suddenly, a thought hit holly, and she said confidently

"deepkit called your name before." The grey medicine cat looked unconvinced, but nodded and padded away. Without looking back, he stated

"your back is healing well. You can leave my den tomorrow."Deepkit bounced around excitedly.

"Yay!" he squeaked

"you can come and join me and my sisters in the nursery!" '_nursery?'_ Thought holly, confused. '_I'm a bit old to be in the-' _then she remembered. The body she had been re-incarnated into was only five moons old. She chuckled inwardly to herself. It was going to be fun being a kit again!

**Authors note: I just want to thank 8Hollysplash8 for her idea. I really appreciate it! I also want to apologise for not updating in a while. I've just been really busy with homework and stuff! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I still need requests for the cats that I will transform into humans, and for which story I should do next! Thanks!**


	5. Chapter 4: new name, new life

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

Holly woke the next morning with a kit-like excitement in her stomach. She was joining the clan for real! Deepkit came to her nest to escort her to her new home, and she had to fight back an indignant retort that she knew where the nursery was, as that would just sound weird coming from a rouge kit who had probably never heard of a clan. As soon as she set foot out of the medicine den, the loud business and hustle of the camp took her by surprise, her being so used to the serene quiet of starclan's hunting grounds. She widened her eyes and shut her ears flat against her head. It was so loud! "Bit loud at first, isn't it?" stated deepkit, echoing her thoughts. Holly and deepkit made their way across the camp, narrowly avoiding being trodden on by berrynose, who was proudly showing off a squirrel he had caught.

"Self- centred furball…" muttered deepkit under his breath, and holly chuckled to herself. _Some cats never change! _She thought as they passed. Upon reaching the nursery, holly heard the unmistakable, deep purr of her other brother, Lionblaze.

"Probably visiting Cinderheart and honeykit and featherkit. Lionblaze is really protective over them , so me and my sisters aren't really allowed to play with them…" Holly nodded in understanding as they entered the thick, bramble thicket that made the nursery. She was greeted by a light grey she-cat, who meowed to her

"Hi! My name is dovewing! Welcome to the nursery!"

"Hi dovewing." Holly replied.

"Nice to meet you." Suddenly, a silver cat, with the same deep blue eyes as dovewing stuck her head around from behind her mother and mewed

"Hiya! I'm pebblekit!" another grey head appeared.

"And I'm briarkit!" it exclaimed, grinning so widely that she showed her rows of sharply pointed teeth.

"Come on Holly." Signalled Deepkit, twitching his tail for her to follow. He pointed a delicate sooty paw at an unoccupied nest in the corner.

"this is your nest. Its right next to mine so we can talk when dovewing goes to sleep!" Holly nodded eagerly. She was glad to have deepkit as a friend. Suddenly, she wondered something.

"Deepkit?" she asked, thoroughly curious.

"Why were you in the medicine den before? Are you sick or something?"

"No!" he laughed

"anything but! I was helping Jayfeather. I love the way he manages to heal cats! I want to be just like that when I'm older!" Suddenly, a loud, deep meow rang through the nursery, and all the cats left. Holly realised that it was bramblestar, calling a clan meeting.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the highledge for a clan meeting!" As the clan assembled beneath the rocky outcrop, holly felt uneasy as many cats shot questioning glances at her, and a sudden feeling that she was not welcome overwhelmed her.

"Cats of thunderclan," Began Bramblestar, silencing the remnants of chatter that passed between cats with a heavy sweep of his brown tabby tail.

"As many of you know, Thunderclan has accepted a young cat into the ranks of our clan. She was found five days ago, injured and alone, by a dawn patrol, and has finally gained enough strength for me to welcome her into the clan properly." Holly felt her ears burning with embarrassment as all the clan cats stared at her, even jayfeather, which holly thought was a bit weird, as he couldn't possibly know where she was sitting, being blind. She hesitantly rose to her paws, and padded to join Bramblestar on the highledge.

"What is your name, kit?" asked the tabby leader, bending down to hear her better

"h-holly" she stammered, ducking her head and wishing starclan would open up a hole in the ground to swallow her up.

"And how many moons old are you?" he asked

"f-f-five" Holly gasped, still nervous out of her mind.

"Cats of thunderclan." Bramblestar addressed the clan again.

"This cat has proved that she is worthy of a place in our clan. From this day forth, until she is old enough to receive her apprentice name, she will be known as Hollykit!"

**Authors note: This chapter is quite a bit longer than my other ones! It took forever to write! I'm sorry for drowning you in requests, but I now also need reviews on what hollykits warrior name should be. Thanks for putting up with such a long chapter! I honestly didn't know how much I was writing! Also in case you were wondering, I decided that briarlight would have died before the story began, because I always felt bad about how she was suffering, so I decided to relieve her pain and let her join starclan. Her memory lives on in briarkit though, so, briarlight fans don't need to be sad! **


	6. Chapter 5: battle training

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

"Hollykit! Deepkit! Come and practice battle moves with me and amberpaw!" pebblekits meow rang across the clearing to where the two cats were sharing a mouse, chatting about berrynose's latest incident. He had managed to provoke a windclan border patrol enough to attack him, and was now in the medicine den with scratches all over, whereas the border patrol were no worse off.

"I'll come in a second!" called hollykit, turning back to deepkit, who was picking at the mouse with an extended claw.

"I'm guessing you'll stay here?" she asked. Deepkit nodded wordlessly, and hollykit butted him with her head.

"Come on!" she pleaded.

"It'll be fun!" deepkit shook his head, and buried his nose in his paws.

"Deepkit, something's bothering you. You can tell me." The ashen grey kit opened his mouth to speak, but shut it as pebblekit shouted again

"Come on, slow slug!" hollykit looked to where her friend was waiting, but turned back to deepkit and meowed hastily

"tell me later", before running to join pebblekit and amberpaw in the corner of the camp.

"Right." Said amberpaw; looking the two kits up and down thoughtfully.

"Seeing as you already know quite a bit, do you want to learn some advanced moves, that will really impress your mentor when you get one?" the two kits shouted

"yesyesyes!" in perfect synchrony, jumping to their feet.

"Okay," Began the apprentice

"I'll teach you the jump and pin. It is a very difficult move to master, so don't feel bad if you don't get it first time." Amberpaw began a demonstration of the move, lunging swiftly at the wall, kicking off it, twisting in mid-air and landing on all four paws, not even stumbling.

"When you land, try to land on your targets back, then scratch them with your claws." Hollykit flexed her claws eagerly, but amberpaw shot her a warning glance and reminded her that this was training and not a battle. Hollykit bowed her head, embarrassed.

"Pebblekit, you go first." Amberpaw said, flicking her tail in a signal to start. The light grey she-cat raced towards the wall, kicking off just as amberpaw had, but stumbling at the last minute, and she fell onto her belly.

"That's a good start, pebblekit!" praised amberpaw.

"Now you try, hollykit." Hollykit sprinted confidently at the wall, but misjudged her timing and crashed heavily into the stone wall, pain exploding in her side as she crumpled to the ground. The world seemed to spin for a few heartbeats, but it soon corrected its self, and hollykit staggered to her feet, to be greeted by the concerned eyed of amberpaw.

"Are you ok?" she asked, evidently worried. Hollykit nodded, clenching her teeth to block out the pain. Suddenly, she felt a presence beside her, and heard rocks rasping voice echo in her ears. _Remember… _it hissed _remember your training…_ an image of the training hollow was projected into her mind, and she saw her old self, leaping at the wall of the hollow and twisting perfectly in the air. The technique came flooding back, and she snapped back to reality, a new found confidence giving her energy and determination.

"Pebblekit do you want to-"

"Wait!" interrupted hollykit, springing to her feet. Amberpaws eyes flashed dangerously with annoyance, but she asked

"what, hollykit?", a hint of a snarl in her voice.

"d-d-do you think I could try again?" she asked, unsettled by the wild look she had just witnessed in amberpaws eyes.

"Are you sure, I mean you took quite a fall before."

"oh… ermm… I think I've got it now" she lied, as saying she had a vision of the past and a cat older than time its-self had reminded her how to do a jump and pin would probably make the apprentice march her to jayfeathers den faster than she could say 'mouse'

"well, ok then… just be careful!" cautioned amberpaw who cleared a safe path to the wall. Hollykit lowered her head and ran at the wall, planting her feet firmly against it, twisting twice in the air and landing firmly on amberpaws back, forcing her to the ground. Hollykit placed her paw triumphantly, and looked up to see the whole clan staring in amazement. All except deepkit…


	7. Chapter 6: deepkit's story

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

Hollykit looked around for her friend, and suddenly spotted his sooty tail disappearing into the nursery. She ran swiftly him, ignoring all awe-filled comments from her clanmates eventually catching up with him as he prepared to settle into his nest.

"Hi…" he sighed mournfully, his usually cheerful voice laced with sadness.

"What's wrong?" asked hollykit, laying her plumy tail across his back sympathetically.

"It- it's nothing." He stammered, turning away, evidently trying to hide the rush of emotions that obviously plagued his mind.

"You can tell me," Reassured hollykit, settling down beside deepkit

"I won't tell a single cat, I promise." Deepkit sighed and turned towards her, his eyes glazed like they were looking at something hollykit couldn't see.

"Fine... It's a long story, though," Warned the grey kit, as if he was trying to put off telling the story as long as possible.

"I'm fine with that." Affirmed hollykit, who then proceeded to shift in the nest to get in a comfortable position to listen to what deepkit had to tell her. The grey kit took a long, reluctant breath, and began his story.

"About four moons ago, before you joined the clans, I was sick with an infection in a cut on my leg I got when I was playing moss ball. I didn't know what exactly was going on, but I did know something wasn't right, as my leg hurt really badly, and I kept falling asleep when I wasn't tired. One night, when I felt really ill, a cat with stars in her fur came to me, and I wondered if she was there to take me to starclan. I asked her, but she said 'no. I am here to heal you.' She put her nose on my forehead and I was cured. Just like that. I asked if she was going to go, and she said yes, but that she would visit me again.

Jayfeather didn't believe me when I told him what had happened, but I knew what I had seen. The starry cat came back the next night in my dreams. She said her name was duskdapple, and that she was here to teach me to be a medicine cat. She came in my dreams each night, and told me all about the herbs, and how to use them to treat illness. She was so kind, and if I made a mistake, she never scolded me or got angry, just smiled asked me to try again." Deepkit looked wistful; as if he was delving through the nights he had spent with his starclan mentor.

"But-but then, it all went wrong. On n-night, duskdapple didn't come. I thought she might have just been busy with starclan stuff, so I didn't think much of it, but that night, I was woken up by a white cat, which I didn't recognise. He asked where duskdapple was, and I was about to tell him, but he scared me, so I thought better of it. I refused, expecting him to go away, but he wouldn't leave. He asked me again, but this time his voice was patronising but cold, like icy honey. I still refused, but then he got angry, and leaped at me. His claws were digging in my throat a-and I-I thought he was going to k-kill m-me." Deepkit was finding it hard to continue, his eyes were darting around the den in a terrified manner, and he was shaking in panic. Hollykit pressed closer to him in an attempt to comfort him.

"What happened next?" she prompted gently, laying her tail soothingly over her friends back.

"T-then duskdapple appeared in the den. She hissed at the white cat and clawed at him. She managed to get him off me and was winning, but the white cat managed to flip her over and he bit her neck, and she just f-faded a-away." Deepkit was breathing heavily, his eyes locked shut as he trembled at the horrific memories of his short past.

"T-then the white cat began to laugh, not a nice laugh, but such an evil laugh that it shook my soul… the cat snarled at me 'lucky your little friend appeared when she did, but don't worry… I'll be back for you later…' and then he disappeared. Just like that. Now you know why I don't like fighting. I never want to see anyone hurt or killed again…"

"Oh deepkit… I'm so sorry!" meowed hollykit, pressing her nose against deepkits ear in an attempt to comfort her best friend. Suddenly, a niggling thought flashed against the back of her mind.

"Deepkit?" she asked hesitantly.

"Was there anything else umm, 'unusual' about the white cat?" deepkit looked down, clearly lost in thought. Suddenly, he shuddered violently, as if some horrid thought had entered his mind.

"h-he had t-this h-horrible scar… it stretched from his ear, right down his face and ended at his belly." Deepkit seemed to tremble at the memory. Hollykit felt anger race through her body, and she dug her claws furiously into the ground

_Oh snowtuft. And I thought you couldn't get any worse…_

**Poor deepkit! I'm sorry if this chapter is rubbish. I kind of rushed it a bit because I wanted to get the conversation over quickly, so I didn't bore everyone who reads it to death! Also, I have set myself a challenge so that at least once a month, I write a one-shot about a warrior cats thoughts about their life. My first one is called 'why me?' and is about crookedstar. If you have a request, feel free to PM me and I will try to include it!**


	8. Chapter 7: apprentice at last!

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

**A/N: as a reply to a review I received, I just want to clarify that hollyleaf (sad as it is) does in fact die in the very last book, and in this story I am in no means suggesting that she dies in the tunnels, just in case that it is causing anyone confusion!**

"hollykit! Wake up!" deepkits raucous mew pierced the silence of hollykits sleep, as a paw prodded her in the side as an attempt to rouse her.

"Come on! We're becoming apprentices today, remember?!" hollykit bolted upright. How could she forget! Adrenaline-powered excitement surged through her, swiftly bypassing the knot ofapprehension that lay twisted in her gut.

"Yes!" she exclaimed, swishing her from tail side to side readily.

"I can't wait!" suddenly, a paw was planted on her rapidly swinging tail, pressing it into the den floor. She looked around sheepishly to see dovewing sternly eying her up and down.

"Well you may have to wait even longer if you sweep dust in all our fur. I may just _accidently_ take a very long time to groom myself, and completely forget about the ceremony? And how would you like that?" hollykit crouched low to the ground, and bowed her head, embarrassed.

"I was only joking!" laughed dovewing, licking her foster-daughters head fur flat.

"I wouldn't halt your ceremony for all the prey in the forest." Dovewing continued to groom hollykit, and her disgusted expression seemed to provide great amusement for deepkit, who was biting on his tail to stop himself falling into hysterics. Hollykit had the last laugh, however, as deepkit was his mother's next target, and his matted grey fur seemed fit to her for a particularly vigorous grooming.

Suddenly, bramblestars booming voice echoed across the camp. Hollykit and deepkit padded outside to meet briarkit and pebblekit, who were already waiting by the highledge.

"Cats of thunderclan!" began the golden eyed leader once all the cats had assembled

"Four cats have reached the age to become apprentices. Briarkit, step forwards." Hollykit heard briarkit gulp as she padded over to bramblestar.

"briarkit. You have reached the age of six moons and are ready to become an apprentice. Until the day you receive your warrior name, you will be called briarpaw! Cherrytail. You have only recently been made a warrior, however you have shown great skill whilst hunting and in battle. You shall mentor briarpaw." The ginger she cat tried to contain her excitement as she touched noses with her new apprentice, but the clan heard her let out a squeak of joy as she sat back down with the newly named briarpaw. Pebblekit was then apprenticed to molefur, and finally it was hollykits turn. She padded nervously to the highledge, apprehension overwhelming her.

"hollykit. You have reached the age of six moons, and although you were not born in the clans, you have shown skill in fighting techniques that a warrior could envy. From this moment forwards, you will be named hollypaw. To help you make the most of your rare gift, I will be your mentor." Hollypaws head spun. Bramblestar would be her mentor?! Hollypaw felt stunned as she touched noses with the leader, and the floor seemed to spin as she sat down. She barely registered deepkits apprentice ceremony. As everyone expected, he was apprenticed to jayfeather, but hollypaw just sat there in a daze. She was the leader's apprentice! The _leader's_ apprentice! She only snapped back to reality when a tail trailed over her shoulders, and she looked up to see bramblestar looking at her, a kind fire flickering in his eyes. _The same look he gave you when he thought he was your father… _reminded a voice in the back of hollypaws head, but she shook it away as bramblestar spoke.

"I think a tour of the territory is in order!"

**I just want to say thankyou to angelwolfsong, leaffrost101 and blazingnyancat for posting favourites on my story! Things like that drive me to do better on my stories, so It is really appreciated! **


	9. Chapter 8: the dark forest

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

Hollypaw burst into the camp, senses hyper-alert and whiskers trembling in the memory of the breath-taking chase through the forest, which awoke her inner hunter and fuelled her muscles with a surge of energy. She felt invincible, like she could fight any enemy and catch any prey. Each breath of air that displaced her whiskers brought so many new scents, some she had never considered, and some she had never even noticed before.

She picked a mouse from the fresh-kill pile; as bramblestar had instructed her to; and made her way towards the nursery, before righting herself and padding back towards the apprentice den. _You mousebrain! _She scolded herself, before crashing down into the nest that some cat had thoughtfully prepared for her. Only then did hollypaw realise how tired she was, and shut her eyes, glad to be resting; her muscles seeming to burn in over-exertion, and drifted off into the world of dreams…

Hollypaw's emerald eyes snapped open as icy trails of wind ploughed into her fur, chilling her into wakefulness. She looked around, startled to find herself not in the apprentice den, but in a dark, dank forest, with gnarled, twisted trees, and mushrooms that seemed to glow in unearthly colours, providing the only light source, as a vicious tangle if thorns and ivy tendrils snaked over the treetops, blocking out all view of the sky. Dread rose up inside of her, as realisation settled upon her mind. This was the place that was thought to have gone from memory; the place no cat ever wished to find themselves. This was the dark forest. Hollypaw stumbled to her feet, shock momentarily blinding her, and she crashed headfirst into a blackened tree trunk. Crumpling to the ground, hollypaw heard a snort coming from behind her.

"So this is hollypaw, the legendary fighter? I was expecting something less…" the voice paused, as if thinking for the right word

"Brain-dead?" Hollypaw whipped her head round, and felt a deep hatred rise up inside of her. There, a malicious smirk plastered on his face, was Snowtuft: the very cat who had helped to kill her.

"What do you want?!" hissed hollypaw, her eyes narrowed into slits and a growl rising in her throat. The white cat unsheathed wickedly sharp talons and looked up at her, the ugly scar that snaked from his ear to his belly twisting his features horrifically.

"Why, hello, hollypaw." Greeted snowtuft, experimentally flicking his claws in and out of his paws.

"Or should I say holly_leaf_!" hollypaw, backed up, millions of thoughts rushing through her at the speed of a lightning's strike.

"Oh yes, hollypaw. I know your little secret too." Smirked the dark forest warrior, taking a step closer.

"But that's not the reason I'm here. I'm here to train you." Hollypaw shook her head defiantly, a vicious snarl escaping her lips.

"Never." She growled, trying to hide the uncertainty in her eyes.

"Oh but you will. I have ways of making you. For example, who's that little medicine cat friend of yours? Deeppaw, isn't it? He could always take a tumble when walking along the edge of the hollow; or dovewing could _accidently_ eat deathberries, couldn't she?" hollypaw backed away again, horror descending upon her. She shut her eyes; wishing, praying, that she would just wake up, and this would just be a bad nightmare. But it didn't happen. She opened her eyes, and saw snowtuft's ice-blue eyes glaring menacingly at her.

"well?" he asked, swishing his tail impatiently.

"Because if you decide to be awkward, I could always-"

"Fine! Fine!" interrupted hollypaw

"I'll do it."

"Okay then. Let's begin." Snowtuft launched himself at hollypaw and bowled her over, raking his claws into her side.

"Too slow!" remarked the white cat as he sprung away, blood splattered on his side. Hollypaw staggered back to her feet, and snowtuft attacked again. This time he landed on her back. She tried to throw her attacker off, but he forced her to the ground and beat her hard between the eyes.

"Too weak!" he called again, flicking his tail irritably.

"We have a _lot_ of work to do." Rage boiled up in hollypaw's stomach. That was it. She lunged at her dark forest mentor, catching him off guard and slicing her claws through his ear. He flinched for a second, a brief expression of pain passing across his face, but it dissolved in an instant and the warrior veered sideways, lashing out with his paw and unbalanced his attacker in a single, fluid movement. She crumpled to the floor, the new gash on her side dripping scarlet blood.

"Too ambitious!" exclaimed snowtuft in mock surprise, cleaning the blood from his claws.

"I expected better!" hollypaw hissed, despite the pain that seared from her new wound, she stumbled to her feet, and ran at the nearest tree. _Paws in, tail straight, ears flat. _She recited to herself, before sailing into the air, launching off the tree trunk and twisting in the air before landing, claws slashing, onto snowtuft's back. He let out a screech of pain as his apprentice sliced mercilessly through his now bloodied fur. Suddenly, the white tom bucked up, claws colliding with hollypaw's cheek, throwing her off him. She landed heavily, tumbling onto her side in a disorientated heap. The dizzy cat looked up at snowtuft, expecting to see him preparing to bite or claw into her neck, but instead he was smiling.

"Now that," he nodded

"Is more like it." Hollypaw felt proud, despite the fact that it was such a horrific cat that was praising her.

"You may go now." Allowed snowtuft, and hollypaw saw the dark forest be replaced by the moss that lined the inside of her nest. Suddenly, deeppaws ear-splitting shriek tore through the silence.

"hollypaw! You're hurt!"

**A/N: Wow long chapter alert! I have to give credit to Greystorm11 for this chapter, and probably quite a lot of chapters to come. I wish I had come up with the idea of hollypaw visiting the dark forest myself! Thanks Greystorm11! **


	10. Chapter 9: Hurt

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

**A/N: I'm really starting to feel ashamed of this story, as I have read most of the other fanfics with the plotline of hollyleaf being reincarnated, and they are all so much better than this one, but I still feel really grateful to everyone who has favourited, followed and reviewed this story. Thankyou!**

Hollypaw snapped her head up to see deeppaw standing over her, an expression of horror on his face.

"Hollypaw… what happened to you?" his voice was hoarse with shock, and his ears were swung flat against his head.

"I-It's not as bad as it seems!" reassured hollypaw, but she knew inside that it wouldn't be any good. _Please can you understand that I'm doing this for you! _Reasoned hollypaw silently, sending a desperate prayer to starclan. _Please forgive me! _

"No. I'm taking you to see jayfeather" Deeppaws voice was stern, and hollypaw decided that it would be best not to argue, so she staggered to her paws, wincing at the pain that lanced through the gash in her side. The sudden movement seemed to re-open the wound, and blood began to ooze out, wetting her fur, which was already crusted with dried blood. Hollypaw felt sick at the sight and turned her head away, shuddering visibly.

"Come on." Meowed deeppaw comfortingly, pressing his pelt against her uninjured side and guiding her out of the den, whispering reassuring words in her ear.

Jayfeather was less than welcoming when the two cats arrived at his den, and hissed,

"Honestly! Can I not go two heartbeats without having to see to some mouse-brain or other?!" Deeppaw scrunched up his eyes in anger and let out a long, hissing breath.

"I think you should see to Hollypaw. She is hurt quite badly." the grey apprentice advised in a dangerously calm voice, which hollypaw had never seen the young cat use before. Jayfeather grunted irritably and gestured to a nest in the corner with his tail.

"Sit" he ordered, not even looking at his patient. Hollypaw bit back a sharp retort and collapsed heavily into the nest, muttering about how bossy some cats could be. Suddenly, a voice sounded behind hollypaw and she jumped in surprise.

"Alright, young un'?" it asked, and the apprentice whipped her head around to see greystripe grinning at her.

"Oh, hello greystripe!" hollypaw greeted, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Are your joints playing up again?" she asked the elder, who nodded in a slightly creaky way.

"I'm afraid so. My days of fightin' and huntin' are long gone!" he replied, a wistful look in his clouded gaze.

"Well, I'm sure being an elder isn't all that bad?" hollypaw Queried, tipping her head to one side inquisitively.

"No, no, not at all young un'. It's good having time to relax an' all, but you still miss the feeling of the wind in your whiskers and the prey beneath your claws…" Greystripe trailed off with a yawn.

"But now, I need a nap, if that's ok with you, young un'?"

"Go ahead. It's fine by me!" assured hollypaw, and the grey-furred elder placed his head on his paws and promptly began snoring.

"Honestly! I don't know how anyone could sleep when he was a warrior!" hollypaw grinned as deeppaw padded over with a mouthful of marigold.

"Hold still. It might sting a bit." he warned, and pressed some pulp on the wound above her eye. Hollypaw hissed quietly and unsheathed her claws as the medicine cat apprentice moved onto the gash on her side, then onto her cheek.

"What happened to you?" asked deeppaw, concern in his dark blue eyes.

"Oh… erm…" hollypaw shifted uncomfortably. _Think hollypaw think! _She urged herself, and an idea came to her.

"A thorn!" she blurted out.

"A thorn got caught in my fur on my way back from the dirtplace, and it cut me while I slept." Deeppaw looked unconvinced.

"A thorn did all that?" he asked, gesturing to the wide cuts and scratches that laced hollypaw's body.

"Erm… It was a big thorn." She lied. Deeppaw nodded. I'll get some cat to check the dirtplace. I don't want you or any other cat getting hurt." Deeppaw padded away and hollypaw sighed in relief, but groaned as jayfeather came over and placed cobwebs over the marigold-covered wounds.

"You can go now. Just look out for…" Jayfeather trailed off as if in deep thought

"Thorns; wasn't it?" asked the blind medicine cat, twitching his tail in a way that seemed to show some sort of amusement.

"Yes." He confirmed.

"Look out for thorns." Hollypaw narrowed her eyes. She knew how jayfeather said things, and it was obvious what he was thinking.

He didn't believe a word she said.


	11. Chapter 10: hunting

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

Hollypaw padded out of the den; dread seeming to weight her paws to the ground.She hung her head in embarrassment as cats stared at her as she made her way to see bramblestar.

"Hello hollypaw!" greeted the thunderclan leader, before adding

"I assume you should be capable of training. I heard you had a disagreement with a thorn." Hollypaw felt her ears burn in shame. The first night in the apprentice den, she was supposedly attacked by a thorn. _It's probably even more shameful than the truth…_ she thought to herself, before replying to bramblestar.

"Yes, I should be ok. What are we doing today?"

"Hunting." Bramblestar replied, gesturing with a small inclination of his head towards the camp entrance.

"We should get going, whilst the prey is still sleepy." Hollypaw and bramblestar left the camp for the forest. A short way from the camp entrance, bramblestar taught his apprentice how to perform the hunters crouch, ducking towards the ground, almost as low as a snakes belly, and creeping delicately forwards, finally launching into an explosive pounce. Hollypaw repeated the motion over and over, until she was confident that she had mastered the technique, each time targeting a small tuft of grass, pouncing again and again, each time trying to land with two paws on her 'prey'. Hollypaw then scented the air, drawing the soft breeze over the scent glands in her throat.

Suddenly, a rabbit came into sight, and hollypaw instinctively dropped into a hunting crouch, but bramblestar tapped her lightly on the shoulders, whispering softly,

"Don't even try. It's too close to its burrow." The tabby leader flicked his ears to a yawning hole in a raised patch of ground.

"It'll be gone before-"

Hollypaw barely heard the last words, as she raced off in the direction of the rabbit. It whipped its head round, shock and fear blending in its eyes as it rushed away into its burrow. The black she cat raced after it, plunging without hesitation into the dark mouth of the burrow. All her moons of life in tunnels like this came rushing back, and she ran confidently, whiskers deftly picking up the curvature of the walls and the vibrations from the rabbit's feet.

Then, abruptly, in a single, fluid motion, hollypaw lashed out a claw, tripping the prey, giving the long furred she cat to bite into the rabbits neck. She felt its spine snap in her jaws, and she altered her grip on the now limp body to enable her to drag it back out of the tunnel.

"Holy starclan above!" exclaimed bramblestar, as his apprentice emerged from the tunnel, the rabbit clasped firmly in her jaws.

"I really should be punishing you for running off like that, but that was amazing! The only other cat I've seen rush into a tunnel like that was hollyleaf."

Hollypaw froze.

"W-who?" she lied shakily, the rabbit dropping from her jaws.

"Oh. She was a cat who lived in thunderclan, not so long ago. She lived in the tunnels for a while, but she came back, and died in a battle." Explained bramblestar.

"I'd ask sandstorm or greystripe if you wanted a longer explanation." He advised, before shaking his head as if to clear bad memories.

"Anyway, we'd better get this rabbit back to the camp. I'm sure the elders will really appreciate it!"

**A/N: oh well. This chapter was really short, but I enjoyed writing it, and I hope you enjoy reading it! I'm sorry for not updating earlier! Life and stuff got in the way. **


	12. Chapter 11: back to darkness

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

"Hollypaw!" the impatient meow seemed to shatter the apprentice's sleeping state, and she rose her head slowly to see snowtuft's ice-blue eyes glaring at her.

"Get up!" he demanded, and a hefty, white paw collided with hollypaws head. She scrambled to her feet, shaking her head to chase away the stars that rattled in her vision from the blow to her head. She snorted in annoyance at being brought back to the dark forest, but stared her mentor evenly in the eye, and asked,

"What are we learning today?" snowtuft grinned maliciously, and replied,

"Oh… just a little battle move I came up with myself… It goes something like this!" on his last word, snowtuft exploded into action, sliding underneath hollypaw and kicking upwards. His hind legs collided painfully with hollypaws stomach, and she was sent flying into the air. She landed on her back with a thud, and snowtuft was there in a heartbeat, digging his claws into her neck. Snowtuft relieved the pressure on hollypaws throat and stepped back.

"You try." He indicated, standing perfectly still to let hollypaw execute the attack. She ran forwards, just as snowtuft had, twisting onto her back and sliding underneath him, but snowtuft sprung away before she could kick upwards, raking a claw over her cheek as he leapt.

"Not fast enough." Stated snowtuft plainly, flicking the blood from his claws as he spoke.

"Try again."

Hollypaw raced forwards again, but this time kicked up earlier, however she only managed to unbalance her mentor, who soon regained stability and bit down hard into her foreleg. Hollypaw shrieked in pain and rolled away, licking her injured leg furiously to take away the agonising burning sensation.

"You aren't kicking hard enough now!" hissed snowtuft in exasperation.

"Go and practice kicking against that tree."

Hollypaw limped over to the tree, lay on her back and carried out what snowtuft had told her to do. She struck the bark again and again until her pads were raw and her muscles were burning. She stopped for a heartbeat, trying to ease the pain in her legs, but the moment she stopped, pain sliced through her ear and blood began to drip down her face as snowtuft shrieked,

"Don't stop, you lazy piece of fox dung!"

Hollypaw resumed the exercise, until snowtuft finally demanded her to stop.

"That's enough. Now try the move again."

Hollypaw lowered her head in concentration and charged, flipping onto her back and lashing out hard. Snowtuft flew into the air and crumpled onto the ground, where hollypaw placed her paw on his throat and slid her claws into his neck fur. Beads of blood began to bubble from the wound, and hollypaw narrowed her eyes. _If she could kill him now, she would never have to come back! _New strength flooded into hollypaw, and she dug her claws deeper, but her hopes seemed to die as the white cat suddenly twisted in her grasp and flung her to the side.

"Enough!" yowled snowtuft, aiming a claw swipe at hollypaw's head, grazing the fur above her eyes.

"Get out! Now!" he continued to yell, and the dark forest seemed to spin, as hollypaw collapsed to the ground, her eyes snapping open back in her own nest. Sunlight was streaming in through the entrance, and all the nests were empty.

"Mouse dung!" hissed hollypaw, leaping to her feet, but crumpling back down again as pain seared up from the bite-marks on her leg. She got up again hesitantly, her leg throbbing in pain. _Oh well. Back to see jayfeather I guess…_

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"What is it now?!" hissed the irritable medicine cat, whipping his head round from a pile of wizened leaves.

"I-I got hurt in training yesterday, and it's started to hurt so I thought I'd see you." Hollypaw lied, flinching as jayfeather hissed in her face.

"You again?! Can't you be more careful?!"

Hollypaw swallowed, unsure of how to react, but sighed in relief as the blind medicine cat left for his herb store. Hollypaw settled down in her nest and sighed. She reflected on how hectic the last few days had been. Hunting, fighting, lying, talking, praising. Everything replayed its self, and she hardly noticed jayfeather returning. Suddenly, something sharp dug into her leg, and hollypaw whipped her head round to see jayfeather, eyes narrowed in anger. At that moment, the black apprentice realised what she had done. She snapped up her mental barrier, but it was too late. Jayfeather had already seen it.

"You…" he hissed.

"Training there?! You traitor! You dark forest apprentice! Get out! Get out!"

Hollypaw's ears swung flat against her head.

"I'm sorry!" she yelled back

"I'm so sorry!"

**A/N: This chapter is longer than the last one so I'm happy about that, and I also want to say a massive thankyou to all everyone who has reviewed, followed and favourited this story. Thankyou!**


	13. Chapter 12: confessions

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

"Wait!" jayfeather suddenly called after hollypaw, and she spun around, the upset clear on her face.

"What?" she murmured, shuffling her paws uncomfortably as the grey tabby cat raked his blind gaze over her.

"Tell me everything." He asked, and all of a sudden, hollypaw realised how tiered he looked, the way his ribs showed through his pelt, the look of grief in his eyes.

_He still hasn't got over my death yet… _Hollypaw realised, pity for the medicine cat blossoming in her mind. _I still can't tell him who I really am though…_

Hollypaw sat down awkwardly, shifting to relieve the pressure on her injured leg.

"Tell me everything." He repeated. Hollypaw began from her first night as an apprentice, describing her first meeting with snowtuft, how he threatened her, how she fought him, how he injured her. She then moved on to the very night before, describing the thrill that rushed through her as she became so close to slaying her tormentor, then the crashing disappointment as he escaped. Jayfeather listened intently to the whole thing, occasionally nodding his head in agreement, until hollypaw completed her tale.

There was an unsettling air of silence in the medicine den after hollypaw shared the truth, and jayfeather sat, obviously deep in thought, staring at her, although he couldn't see her.

"I forgive you." He said plainly, after what seemed like seasons.

"And I want to help you."

Hollypaw was confused.

"How?" she asked, tipping her head to the side in an inquisitive gesture.

"I can heal you each morning, create excuses, and keep your secret safe."

Hollypaw nodded in agreement. She knew jayfeather well, and one thing was for certain, he always kept his word, no matter who asked, or how.

"Thankyou." She replied, thoroughly grateful, and she rose to her paws, swishing her plume-like tail in farewell. Suddenly, a dark shape collided with hollypaw, and she was knocked to the ground.

"Sorry hollypaw!" meowed the shape, sitting up to reveal a slightly ruffled looking deeppaw.

"I didn't see you!"

Hollypaw chuckled and flicked the grey tom with her tail.

"Alright, clumsypaw!" she laughed, finding deeppaw's disgruntled expression somewhat hilarious.

"Ha ha. Very funny." Said deeppaw, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he batted his friend with his paw. The two cats soon diverged into a brawling play-fight, rolling around on the ground, laughing hysterically.

"Watch it!" hissed a voice from the medicine den entrance, and the two cats sprung to their feet.

"Sorry jayfeather!" they chorused in symphony, and hollyleaf realised how he was back to his old, grouchy self, not the kind, sympathetic cat she had talked to before.

"Excuse me!" hollypaw whipped her head around to see ivypool standing behind her, shuffling her paws impatiently. The two apprentices stepped aside and ivypool padded up to jayfeather, whispering softly

"Can I have a word?"

The medicine cat beckoned ivypool into his den, and hollypaw and deeppaw hovered outside, curious. A hushed conversation began, and hollypaw strained desperately to hear, but suddenly, ivypool spoke up, louder than she was speaking before.

"Jayfeather." She said

"I think I might be pregnant."

**A/N: ooh! Cliffhanger! If you are wondering who the father to ivypool's kits is, I don't actually know myself! Also, one of these kits will be **_**very **_**important in the story, so have made them, I but I will be taking OC's for ivypool's other two kits, so feel free to PM or review with your suggestions, but I can't really take all your suggestions, as much as I would like to! As a reply to a review that I got from mybrokenheart123, I won't be able to let any cat in the clan know hollypaws true identity until a lot later in the story.**

**Until next time! Storm (short version of my name!) **


	14. Chapter 13: The Battle

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

**A/N: I'm really sorry for not updating sooner, but my computer died and it only started working again today, so I have an excuse!**

The next few moons passed with no memorable events; training in the dark forest continued as usual, and bramblestar only taught her the things that apprentices were usually taught. The gatherings that she went to were un-eventful, as the clans had been at peace since the great battle; in fact, according to hollypaw, the only interesting things were seedpaw, lilypaw, amberpaw, snowpaw and dewpaw, now seedpelt, lilyflower, amberclaw, snowstorm and dewfrost's warrior ceremonies. Due to this, hollypaw was longing for something actually _interesting _to happen. But when her wishes were answered, it was not in a way she had hoped for.

"Hollypaw! Pebblepaw! Border patrol!" the two apprentices snapped their heads up from the vole they were sharing to see squirrelflight scowling at them.

"Now!" she ordered, flicking towards a group of cats that were waiting by the camp entrance in an impatient motion. Muttering a curse under her breath, hollypaw heaved herself to her paws before padding to join the patrol. Pebblepaw joined her mentor molefur, whilst hollypaw surveyed who was in the rest of the group.

_Sorreltail, brackenfur, seedpelt, spiderleg, thornclaw and berrynose. _She recited, sighing in exasperation at the sight of berrynose. _He'll only get us into trouble… _she thought.

"Right, let's go!" Brackenfur's yowl startled hollypaw, and she stumbled into thornclaw, who hissed at her bad-temperedly.

"Watch it!" he snapped, baring sharp, needle-like fangs. Hollypaw backed up, ears flattened in fear and agitation. The patrol had already left by the time she turned round, and the young cat broke into a sprint to catch up.

The patrol checked the borders around the territory, heading in the direction of windclan. As they passed the moor-side border, berrynose suddenly raced away from the group and into the opposite clans territory. The cause of this mad dash became clear when the troublesome warrior sauntered back with a smug look on his face and a plump rabbit clasped in his jaws.

"Prey thieves!" the cry rose into the air, and the patrol of thunderclan warriors snapped their heads around to see a windclan patrol decending over the crest of the ridge, fury blazing in their eyes. Battle cries rang through the air as the two groups clashed, each cat locked in battle with another. Hollypaw swung her head from side to side, the chaos of the battle confusing her, but she was snapped back to reality as a weight landed on her back and she was forced to the ground. She twisted in her attackers grasp and saw the snarling face of the newly named warrior furzespeckle, her white and grey dappled pelt raised in anger. Hollypaw twisted side to side as the powerful young cat aimed heavy paw-swipes and bites at her. Despite her dark forest training, she was fighting a losing battle, and with each writhing movement she made, her strength seemed to ebb slowly away. Finally, one of furzespeckle's swipes met its mark, and white hot pain exploded in hollypaw's cheek, and she winced as blood ran down her face and onto her neck. Furzespeckle then raised her paw above her opponent's neck and smiled murderously, and hollypaw closed her eyes in fear and regret.

_No… It can't end like this… _she thought to herself, but there was a sudden loud cry behind the apprentice and the weight of her attacker was abruptly lifted, and her emerald eyes snapped open to see brackenfur engaged in combat with furzespeckle. Yowls and shrieks split through the air, and hollypaw looked around the battleground, taking it all in. her gaze fell upon pebblepaw, who was struggling to fight off a calico tom, who hollypaw recognised from the gathering. She seemed to recall his name to be chasepaw, but she quietly scolded herself for being too slow, as an anguished yowl of pain came from the direction of pebblepaw, and the black she-cat bounded forwards, knocking chasepaw away from the grey she cat.

The two cats wrestled furiously on the ground, slashing and biting in a frenzy of claws and fur. Neither cat seemed to be winning, so hollypaw, in a spur of the moment decision, attempted the move that snowtuft had taught her the previous night. She suddenly twisted and slid underneath chasepaw, crawling out behind him and lashing out at the back of his neck in an explosive claw swipe. The calico tom crumpled to the ground, blood streaming from the wound in his neck. Hollypaw backed up; waiting for the windclan apprentice to spring up and return the attack, but the black apprentice recoiled in horror as she saw the glazed-over look in the tom's amber eyes.

"No…" she whispered, hoarse in shock

"Please starclan… no…" then, all of a sudden, a horrified yowl rose into the morning sky, and hollypaw turned her head to see swallowtail, her eyes dark with anger and greif.

"You monster!" she hissed, lashing her tail furiously.

"You killed my apprentice!"

**A/N: I decided to include hollypaw killing chasepaw because I re-read my previous chapters, and hollypaw seemed like a bit of a 'can do no wrong' character during the day at least, so I thought a dark twist in the plot would make her seem more developed and troubled. I hope you liked it! Also, I have had two suggestions for what hollypaws warrior name will be, and I just can't decide between them, so I will try to post a poll on my profile, which I will leave up for a week or two to help me decide! Until next time!**

**Storm**


	15. Chapter 14: aftermath

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

The walk back to camp was torture for hollypaw. Every cat was silent, but thornclaw and spiderleg kept shooting accusing looks in her direction. She hung her head dejectedly, shame and grief burning inside her. She had killed before, in her previous life, but murdering ashfur felt so different to this. After she killed the grey warrior, she felt as if a burden had been lifted, but killing chasepaw just left her feeling more worthless than she had ever felt. When the patrol finally entered the camp, all the cats that remained in the stone hollow fell silent, so the whole camp seemed to be asleep, and Brackenfur was swiftly ushered into bramblestar's den evidently to give a battle report. Hollypaw sat by the camp entrance alone, until cinderheart came over and sat beside her.

"What's wrong?" asked the smoky grey she-cat, laying her tail comfortingly over the depressed apprentice's shoulders.

"You can tell me."

At that, hollypaw seemed to break inside, and she fell to the ground, wailing despondently. Cinderheart lay beside her and touched hollypaw's ear with her nose.

"Please tell me." She pleaded

"I hate seeing you so upset."

Hollypaw raised her head slowly and murmured quietly

"I-I-I killed chasepaw…"

Cinderheart seemed to freeze for a moment, but looked hollypaw in the eyes and asked,

"Why, hollypaw? I'm sure there is a reason."

Hollypaw's mind raced as she thought of an explanation. She stared at the ground, panic seeming to block her flow of ideas. Finally, one came to her.

"W-when I was a rouge, my father, a cat named raven, taught me and my mother, scarlet, how to fend for ourselves. He taught me the move I used to kill chasepaw, but when I tried it on an older cat, it didn't kill him, only hurt him. I guess I didn't know my own strength, and I hit chasepaw too hard. I didn't mean too. I'm not a killer, I promise." Hollypaw hung her head, ashamed that she had just lied to one of the cats in the clan who acted like a mother and a best friend to her. Cinderheart licked the fur between hollypaws ears comfortingly. In normal circumstances, she would have twisted away, or complained bitterly, but now she was glad for the loving gesture.

"Come on. Food will make you feel better." cinderheart stated, standing up and signalling towards the fresh-kill pile. Hollypaw gritted her teeth. Despite the hunger that gnawed at her belly, the sight of the dead mice, rabbits and squirrels made her feel sick.

"Here." Cinderheart dropped a plump mouse at the stricken apprentice's feet.

"Eat." She meowed, glancing at hollypaw, warmth in her eyes. Hollypaw bent down hesitantly, slowly taking a bite of the prey. The warm sensation made her lips curl, and she inhaled sharply as the image of chasepaw's body, his eyes staring blankly into nothing, replayed in her mind. The horrified apprentice suddenly collapsed into a violent coughing fit as the chunk of meat lodged in her throat, rendering her unable to breathe. As the obstruction began to deprive her body of oxygen, hollypaw fell to the ground, her eyes glazing over as she lay in the dust. Cinderheart, who had watched the whole thing in a fit of panic, suddenly snapped back to reality and shrieked,

"JAYFEATHER!"

The grey medicine cat bounded from the den, followed by deeppaw, who froze in shock at the sight of hollypaw lying by the camp entrance, convulsions wracking her body.

"Deeppaw, yarrow, now!" commanded jayfeather, and the grey apprentice emerged from his daze and charged into the medicine den.

Jayfeather felt along the length of hollypaw's neck to locate the obstruction, and looked up as he heard the noise of deeppaw returning. The scene of hollypaw's sudden collapse had gathered a lot of attention from the clan, and a circle of wide eyed cats had gathered around the medicine cat. Jayfeather swiftly forced the yarrow down hollypaw's throat, and, almost immediately, she began to retch and gag, before vomiting up the piece of prey. She let in a long, shuddering gasp of air, and closed her eyes in relief.

"it's ok." meowed jayfeather, dismissing the cats that had gathered with a commanding sweep of his tail.

"She'll live."

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"Don't you EVER do that again!" cautioned deeppaw as hollypaw staggered to the medicine den after her ordeal.

"Sorry…" she apologised weakly, flopping into a nest. Deeppaw crawled in beside her protectively.

"You need to stop scaring me." Said the young cat defensively.

"I hate seeing you hurt."

Hollypaw curled up into a ball in preparation to sleep, and deeppaw did the same, encircling her with his tail. No sooner had hollypaw shut her eyes, she was awoken by the movement of something shifting beside her, and she snapped open her eyes to find herself in the dark forest, the crooked trees leaning towards her threateningly. Hollypaw glanced to the side and horror rose up inside her as she saw deeppaw standing beside her, fear glistening in his eyes.

"W-where are we?" he asked, the tremor in his voice giving away how petrified he was to find himself in such a hideous place.

"No…" whispered hollypaw quietly, almost talking to herself.

"Deeppaw, run. Run. You have to get out of here right now, ok? Go, before it's too late!"

The medicine cat apprentice hesitated for a split second. That was all it took.

"Well hollypaw…" the falsely kind voice of snowtuft resounded through the silence in the forest, and hollypaw whipped her head around, her lips drawn back in a vicious snarl. Snowtuft's icy gaze fell upon deeppaw, who had pressed himself flat against a blackened tree, and was shaking in pure terror. The white warrior's face twisted into a malevolent smirk as he spoke again.

"Who is your little friend?"

**A/N: I'm really sorry that this chapter is so rubbish. It was really just to fill in the gaps between events, so it wasn't very well planned, plus I have had an awful cold since last week, so I'm not really in best form to write, but this chapter was sitting half written on my computer, so I decided to finish it anyway! Storm**


	16. Chapter 15: Fight for freedom

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

"You!" deeppaw sobbed, recognising snowtuft as he advanced on the young grey cat, claws sharpened to deadly points and fangs bared.

"You murdered duskdapple!"

"Ha!" laughed the vicious white tom, swaying his tail readily.

"That pathetic excuse for a cat was no match for me in battle. I expect you should be the same!"

Hollypaw let out an ear-splitting scream as snowtuft leapt at deeppaw, slicing his claws through the medicine cat apprentice's ear. He sprung away, deftly hooking out a paw, tripping deeppaw, who seemed to have lapsed into a daze and fell to the ground without trying to stop himself.

Letting out a ferocious battle-cry, hollypaw threw herself in front of her friend, eyes blazing with fury. Snowtuft let out a manic laugh and surged forwards, knocking hollypaw to the ground;

"You are weak!" he hissed, foul breath entering her nose.

"You will NEVER defeat me!" With that, the maddened cat stamped down on the black apprentice's head hard. Stars exploded in front of hollypaw's eyes and her head fell backwards as the forest seemed to waver and spin before her eyes. She tried to struggle to her feet, as deeppaw's anguished moans fuelled her desire to help him, yet the blow to her head confined her to lying on the ground like a newborn kit, which frustrated her so much that she felt like tearing her fur out. Finally, hollypaw managed to draw enough energy to turn her head, and her eyes locked with deeppaw's pain-filled gaze.

"Please hollypaw…" he whispered, the sound almost carried away on the breeze

"Help me…"

Deeppaw's plea seemed to supply hollypaw with new strength, and she heaved herself to her paws, fury licking like flames in her eyes and torching her heart. She had only felt like this once, in her old life, and when that had happened, it ended with ashfur's murder, yet hollypaw welcomed the hunger for revenge, letting it consume her and bring fire to her claws and fangs.

"Oh snowtuft…" she crooned softly, slowly unsheathing her claws.

"I think you might have forgotten something…"

The white tom whirled around to see a fearsome sight. Hollypaw, blood carving a path from the wound in her head, face twisted into a manic smirk, eyes blazing with green fire. He hardly had time to prepare as she leapt, a battle-cry splitting the air as she launched an attack with a ferocity that snowtuft had never seem in the young cat before. Flurries of swipes and bites fell upon him as hollypaw fought for vengeance, claws tearing and ripping through her foe's fur. Snowtuft was beaten to the ground; however he sprung straight back up, a roar of anger forming at his lips as he barrelled into hollypaw, cutting a deep gash into her side. The dusky she-cat hissed in pain, giving snowtuft the chance to leap upon her, tearing up her back with his claws. Hollypaw fell to the ground, blood oozing from the deep wounds that now laced across her back.

"Not so tough now are we?" sneered snowtuft, chuckling madly to himself.

"I thought I trained you better!"

Hollypaw growled, but her strength had all but faded, and she was back to where she was before her attack: helpless and vulnerable. Pain suddenly surged through hollypaw's neck and she twisted around to see Snowtuft, his teeth sunk into her throat. The apprentice writhed side to side, trying desperately to escape her attackers grasp. Suddenly an idea seemed to blossom in hollypaw's mind, and her gaze darted around as she planned her escape, thinking furiously to form her strategy in the swiftest time possible.

Letting out a mock wail of terror, hollypaw forced herself to go limp in snowtufts jaws, no matter how much her sense of sanity told her that it would get her killed. Just as planned, snowtuft dropped her body, obviously assuming her to be dead. She opened one eye hesitantly to see deeppaw, a look of pure horror on his face as he saw what he believed to be his best friend's death. Hollypaw counted silently in her head, and when she reached zero, she lashed out, flipping onto her back. Her paws crashed into snowtuft's chest and he stumbled backwards, falling onto the ground, his neck exposed. The blazing desire for revenge consumed hollypaw again, and she sprung forwards, placing a paw over the dark forest warrior's neck. She hissed in anger, and slid a single claw into the flesh of snowtuft's throat.

"This is for blackmailing me." She growled, locking eyes with her captive. She slid another claw in.

"This is for whatever you did to end up in this place. This is for murdering innocent cats. This is for threatening my friends and this is for hurting deeppaw!" hollypaw ended in a yowl, ripping her claws through fur and flesh. Snowtuft let out a scream and twisted on the ground in pain. Suddenly, he fell silent, his eyes widened, his pupils contracted and he exploded into a cloud of dust right before hollypaws disbelieving eyes.

"You did it hollypaw…" deeppaw's meow sounded behind hollypaw, and she turned around to see him sitting up awkwardly, the wounds that criss-crossed his pelt obviously causing him considerable discomfort.

"You were amazing…"

A feeble smile crept onto hollypaws face at deeppaw's compliment, and she dipped her head in modesty. A sudden wave of light-headedness swept over her and she staggered sideways, suddenly aware of the agony that had seized her body, before all feelings faded, and the world faded into nothing…

**A/N: I just want to remind everyone that I have put up a poll on my profile to help determine what hollypaw's warrior name will be, as so far, only one person has voted, and I need more votes than that to help me decide, so pleaseee check that out! Storm**


	17. Chapter 16: Ceremonies and births

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

"Hollypaw…" the gentle voice snaked its way into the apprentices sleep, and she hesitantly opened her eyes.

"What?" she moaned irritably

"I'm trying to sleep!" there was a laugh from behind hollypaws head, and she looked around, momentarily blinded by the bright light streaming through the den entrance. Deeppaw was looking over her, new life in his eyes, so unlike the semi-unconscious form she had seen in the dark forest. She grinned widely and dipped her head.

"Ewww!" she suddenly exclaimed, recoiling at the feel of the sticky cobwebs that swathed her neck and back. Deeppaw laughed as the dark apprentice wiped her chin disgustedly, attempting to remove the clingy strands.

"I'm glad you're awake." He meowed, locking his gaze with hers.

"Why?" asked hollypaw, suddenly confused.

"It's only been a night."

Deeppaw shook his head slowly.

"You were unconscious for four days." He corrected, as his line of vision travelled to her fur.

"And you look it too! It looks like you've been dragged through a bramble-thicket by a partially sighted badger!" all formality was lost in a single moment. Hollypaw pretended to look hurt, and turned her back dramatically on deeppaw.

"Well, if that's what you think-" hollypaw was cut off by bramblestar's loud, clear meow.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the highledge for a clan meeting! I believe Hollypaw has something to tell us."

Hollypaw froze in shock. She looked at deeppaw in confusion, but he looked as equally bemused.

"Come on hollypaw!" bramblestar's prompt rang out in the crisp morning air

"We're all waiting!"

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"And I managed to kill snowtuft. He can't harm us anymore." Hollypaw finished her account of her battle with snowtuft to find all the cats in the clan staring at her, unmoving, unspeaking. She shifted on her paws uncomfortably. She had expected a strong reaction as soon as bramblestar had made his request, but this was not what she was expecting.

"Thankyou hollypaw." Meowed bramblestar, dipping his head.

"You have done the clan a great service, and I can only think of one way to show my gratitude."

Hollypaw looked around, unsure as to what was happening. What bramblestar said next sent her heart fluttering into excitement.

"I, Bramblestar, leader of thunderclan, call upon my ancestors to look upon this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways on your noble code, and I present her to you as a warrior in her turn. Hollypaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and protect the clan, even at the cost of your life?"

Hollypaw quivered in excitement, and she had to force her voice to stop shaking before she could speak.

"I-I do."

"Then, by the powers of starclan, I give you your warrior name. From this moment forwards, hollypaw, you shall be known as Hollystorm. Starclan honours your courage, determination and strength in battle, and welcomes you as a full member of thunderclan." Bramblestar rested his head upon hollystorm's, and she had to dig her claws into the rock to restrain herself from squealing in excitement.

"Tonight, you shall hold a silent vigil and guard the camp."

"Hollystorm!" deeppaw's voice chanted, and soon the whole clan joined, calling her new name to the skies.

"Hollystorm! Hollystorm! Hollystorm!"

_Hollystorm… _Thought the dark furred warrior to herself. _I like that…_

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Hollystorms eyelids seemed to droop as she sat by the camp entrance. She had been sitting vigil for only a few hours, yet she already felt tired. Yawning loudly, she shifted the way she was sitting, feeling her paws begin to go numb from being in the same place for such a long stretch of time. Suddenly, a shriek of pain ripped through the silence. The camp descended into chaos as cats streamed out of the warriors den towards the nursery, where the sound came from. Seconds later, Brightheart burst out of the nursery, panic flaring in her eyes.

"Where's Jayfeather and Deeppaw?!" she demanded to hollystorm, who, knowing that breaking her silence was allowed in times of need, replied.

"They went to the moonpool. It's half-moon tonight."

Brightheart gasped, and looked around frantically.

"Ivypool is kitting!" she wailed, panicked and flustered.

"I-I think I know what to do…" Murmured hollystorm, remembering her moons of medicine cat training.

"Come on then…"ushered brightheart, sweeping the new warrior towards the nursery.

"Just tell me what you need."

Ivypool was lying in her nest, moaning in pain, her mouth twisted into a snarl as convulsions passed through her belly. Dovewing crouched beside her, stroking her flank soothingly with her tail. Hollypaw settled down beside the agonized queen, and whispered:

"Don't worry. It'll all be over soon…" comfortingly into her ear. Ivypool looked up at her gratefully, but hissed in pain as another convulsion passed through her stomach.

"Someone get me a stick and some water!" demanded hollypaw, surveying the crowd that had gathered.

"I'll go!" briarpaw's voice spoke up as she sprinted from the den. Hollypaw turned back to Ivypool, and ran her paw over her swollen belly.

"Three, I think…" she estimated. The grey and white queen let out another howl of agony as briarpaw returned with a stick and some dripping wet moss.

"Thanks briarpaw." Hollystorm dipped her head in gratitude, but turned to the other cats.

"I'd leave now." She advised, but requested that close friends and family could stay. Whitewing, dovewing, brightheart, hollystorm and ivypool were the only cats left in the nursery.

"When you feel one coming, bite down on the stick." Advised hollystorm, and almost instantly, ivypool seized the stick in her jaws and sunk her teeth in as a wet grey bundle slid out onto the nursery floor.

"Whitewing, lick its fur the wrong way." Commanded hollystorm, depositing the kit at the white warriors paws. There was another sound of splintering wood as a brown kit slid out this time, and was handed to brightheart. The final kit left the stick lying in splintered halves on the nursery floor, and ivypool gasping for air in exhaustion. Its pure white fur looked like a small splash of snow as it was passed gently to dovewing.

A tired smile spread to ivypool's face as she saw her three kits.

"Bring them to me…" she whispered in a barely audible voice. All three tiny kits were nestled in the curve of their mothers belly and they began to suckle as the grey and white queen looked down at them fondly.

"This one shall be called twigkit." Decided ivypool, pointing to the brown mound of fur that was nuzzling its way into her stomach;

"And this one- actually, hollystorm, you can name the grey one."

The black warrior felt honoured, and she thought hard, multiple name choices propelling through her mind.

"Pigeonkit." She eventually decided.

"For his pelt."

Ivypool nodded slowly and turned back to her grey kit.

"Pigeonkit it is, then." She meowed. Finally, the new mother looked upon the white she-kit.

"Frostkit." She decided, looking down upon her three newborn kits.

"Twigkit, pigeonkit and frostkit." She recited. At the snowy-white kit's name, hollystorm felt suddenly dizzy. She staggered out of the nursery, the world seeming to sway violently. She shut her eyes tight as rock's rasping voice reverberated inside her head, repeating the prophecy she had forgotten moons ago.

_The holly's leaves are evergreen, but the harshest frosts can destroy them…._

**A/N: Ok, firstly, I am really sorry to anyone who wanted hollypaw's warrior name to be hollyspirit, but I decided not to count the poll, as only one person voted, however hollystorm was more popular with my reviewers, and** **Greystorm11, who suggested hollyspirit, had already contributed an idea to the story, so I went with hollystorm. Also, I want to apologise in advance, because I probably won't update again until at least after next week, because I'll be really busy with Christmas stuff until then. Merry Christmas in advance! Storm signing out! **


	18. Chapter 17: Kits

Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own warrior cats.

"Get up." A paw prodded hollystorm on the side, and she curled up tighter in her nest. The paw prodded her again, this time harder.

"Get up!" the voice was raised in agitation, but hollystorm merely swung her tail over her face and buried her nose in it, grunting sleepily.

"GET UP!" the dusky she-cat darted upwards, paws flailing wildly as the voice yowled in her ear. She opened her eyes against the weak, morning sunlight to see squirrelflight, fury burning in her eyes.

"Border patrol! Now!" the fiery deputy demanded, before turning on her heel and whisking away out of the den, tail held high to display her authority. Hollystorm stretched out luxuriously in her nest and turned around to see lilyflower, her fur ruffled from sleep, an amused smile on her face.

"Who made dirt in her fresh-kill?" she meowed good-humouredly, gesturing towards the distant figure of squirrelflight, who seemed to be giving toadstep a firm telling-off. Hollystorm shrugged, grinning as she licked a stray tuft of fur back into place, and padded out of the den. No sooner than she had stepped into the open, the young warrior was assaulted by three, small bundles of fur, which flung themselves upon her, squealing with excitement. Hollystorm laughed and tried to shake them loose, but the kits hung on tightly, and she sat down in mock submission.

"Okay! Okay! You win!" paws seemed to scrabble up hollystorm's neck, and she looked down to see twigkit plop to the ground infront of her.

"Please can you play fox attack with us?" the little brown kit looked up at hollystorm with pleading amber eyes. More paws scrambled over the warrior's head, and the grey-tabby form of pigeonkit landed beside his brother. His eyes displayed the same begging expression.

"pleeeease?" he whined, tipping his tiny head to the side quizzically.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go on border patrol." Hollystorm felt bad for having to leave the little kits. Because they had no father to play with them, they had to go around the warriors to ask them to play, and hollystorms 'fox attack' game was a particular favourite. The final set of paws kneaded against hollystorms back, this time followed by the prick of claws against her neck. Frostkit was deposited beside her siblings, her eyes glinting like splinters of ice.

"Who cares about a stupid border patrol! Play with us!"

Hollystorm flinched. Despite being only a moon old, frostkit had shown to be a rude, impatient and boisterous individual, always pushing other cats around. Hollystorm stopped to compose herself before replying to frostkits harsh words.

"I'm sorry, frostkit, but squirrelflight is the deputy, and I have to do as she says, and she says I have to go on border patrol, so I have to go on border patrol." Anger flared in the white kits eyes.

"Who cares about what old bushy-tail says! She's a hopeless deputy!"

Hollystorm was shocked.

"You can't say that about Squirrelflight! She might be leading this clan one day, so you should respect her!" The anger seemed to build up inside frostkit, as she fixed the black warrior with a level but deadly gaze.

"Lead?!" she scoffed, snorting in laughter.

"That half-kittypet couldn't lead a hunting patrol, never mind a clan! With her as leader, we'd have been invaded by shadowclan before she even received her nine lives! I'm going to be the next leader of this clan, isn't that right, Twigkit, pigeonkit?" she snapped her head around, looking to her brothers for support, but the two kits only looked at the ground and shuffled their paws awkwardly. Frostkit narrowed her eyes.

"You doubt me, don't you?" she hissed, the fur along her spine rising in anger.

"Well, you know what your problem is? You have no ambition! And with no ambition, you'll never achieve anything! Anything!" with that, the white kit whirled around and stalked off, tail lashing side-to-side. Hollystorm turned her attention back to Ivypool's two other kits, to see twigpaw's head drooping. His sister's spiteful words had obviously hurt him, but pigeonkit was, as always, trying his best to comfort him.

"She didn't really mean it…" he whispered, laying his tail around his brothers' shoulders.

"No." assured hollystorm, smiling warmly at the crestfallen kit.

"She didn't mean it." Twigkit looked up at hollystorm gratefully.

"Thanks." He meowed, kinking his tail over his back to show he wasn't upset anymore.

"You're welcome. And how about, when I get back from patrol, we play fox attack?" at the mention of the game, twigkit sprung to his paws, and so did pigeonkit. The two young cats opened their mouths to say something, but they were cut off by squirrelflights furious yowl.

"HOLLYSTORM! Get here now!"

**A/N: finally got a chance to write! I really want to thank all my followers, reviewers and favouriters (Okay, I know that's not a real word, but oh well…) for providing constant inspiration for this story, and I would write a list of everyone who I'm talking about, but I'm too lazy, so I'm just going to say a massive, generic thankyou, as you all know who you are! I also want to say that I have recently started a new fanfiction, it's called** **'I'm more than you think', and I'm going to leave the rest to you to find out! Storm**


	19. Chapter 18: encounters

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

Hollystorm ran over to squirrelflight, embarrassment burning at her ear tips. She ducked her head under the scorning gaze of the deputy, and mumbled a swift apology before joining honeypaw (her and her sister had been apprenticed a moon ago) and her mentor Bumblestripe at the back of the group. She made quiet conversation with the two cats as the patrol left the camp, heading towards the windclan border. Hollystorm shuddered. She still hadn't managed to shake off the trauma of killing chasepaw, and anything to do with windclan brought back bad memories. The borders seemed to be in order, and new scent-markers were laid down, but half way along the border, hollystorm spotted a plump rabbit, nibbling delicately on a tussock of grass that sprouted from a patch of bare earth.

"Can I catch it?" she whispered to squirrelflight, who rolled her eyes and replied,

"I suppose. If you catch it, there's no point in re-joining the patrol, so just make your own way back to camp." Hollystorm nodded eagerly and dropped into a hunters crouch, eyes focused on her prey. She slid over the ground slowly, avoiding any brittle twigs or leaves that might have alerted the rabbit of her presence. The plump creature continued to eat, oblivious of the danger until it was only a fox-length away from it. Hollystorm exploded into motion, propelling herself towards the rabbit, which bolted upright and darted away. The dusky she-cat gave chase, perusing her prey through the trees. Finally, she caught up with it and slammed a paw down on its neck, before sinking her teeth in to deliver the final blow. She stepped back to admire her catch. _The elders will eat well tonight!_ She thought to herself, smiling. Suddenly, a twig snapped somewhere close, and hollystorm whirled to face the sound, ears swung backwards, tail lashing threateningly. A cat emerged from the bushes.

"Swallowtail?! What are you doing on thunderclan territory!? Get out!" Hollystorm hissed threateningly at the windclan she-cat, yet swallowtail seemed unfazed and simply smiled deviously.

"You murdered my apprentice." She growled, claws digging into the earth. Hollystorm backed away.

"No! It was an accident! I promise!" This seemed to bring an unnatural fire to the grief-stricken she-cats eyes, and she lowered her head dangerously.

"Stop lying! You murdered chasepaw, and you need to die too!" the thunderclan warrior flinched, expecting to feel the rip of claws in her pelt, but instead, she looked up to see swallowtail produce three, scarlet berries and roll them onto the ground. Shock raced through hollypaw as she recognised what swallowtail was implying.

"Oh starclan no…" she whispered to herself in panic, her breath rattling in her chest at the sight of the berries that were placed before her.

"Death in battle is too good for you! Eat them, now, or I'll force them down your throat!" the maddened she-cat nudged the deathberries towards hollystorm, who shut her eyes tight, praying to starclan.

"Hollystorm, what's going on here?" Hollystorm gasped in relief at the sound of deeppaws voice, and she opened her mouth to explain, but swallowtail beat her to it.

"I found this mouse-brain trying to stuff her face with deathberries. Lucky I was here to stop her, or she'd be dead by now." The dusky windclan she-cat puffed out her chest proudly and sauntered away. Hollystorm glanced at deeppaw, who was looking suspiciously at swallowtail as she left.

"Come on." Meowed the medicine cat apprentice, turning towards his friend.

"Let's head back to camp." Hollystorm nodded gratefully and followed the grey tom, who bent down to pick up a bundle of herbs as they left.

"Rabbit?" he mumbled through the stems and leaves, and the black warrior darted away, returning with her catch.

"I forgot!" she giggled. Deeppaw smiled and continued into the forest. After they had walked for a little while, hollystorm looked around, and then meowed to deeppaw,

"This isn't the way back to camp!"

"I know." Replied deeppaw, settling down his herbs on the ground. He suddenly looked uncomfortable, and his blue gaze seemed focused on the floor.

"Look, hollystorm, I-I-I need to tell you something" hollystorm was intrigued as the grey apprentice sat down awkwardly, and she did the same, trying to catch his eye, but he refused to look directly at her, gaze settling on possibly everything but her.

"Well, I…erm- I mean- that I, no, emmm…" deeppaw gabbled out a random stream of words that made no sense to hollystorm whatsoever. The medicine cat apprentice then closed his eyes tight, grimaced, then finally looked directly at her.

"What is it deeppaw?" Asked the dusky warrior, tilting her head to the side. Deeppaw shook his head vigorously and replied,

"It's nothing. It must have slipped my mind." With that, he sprung to his paws and ran off, leaving hollystorm and his pile of herbs behind him.

**A/N: I decided to post another chapter to apologise for not updating in a while! I know this one isn't the best, but it is important to the happenings later on in the story! Also, I need suggestions for briarpaw and pebblepaw's warrior names, so please review or pm me with your suggestions! Review!**

**Storm**


	20. Chapter 19: Friendships falling apart

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

**A/N: My last update of 2013! Enjoy! Oh, also, I'm going to start replying to reviews in my chapters, because I sometimes feel like my reviewers feel that I'm ignoring them, so here I go! **

**Mybrokenheart123: okay…?**

**Guest: Thanks!**

**8Hollysplash8: Wow, long review, but that's good! I really appreciate it that you like my story, and I'll try to fix the capital letters in this chapter!**

**Shadowfur1017: You'll find out soon!**

**Cats rule: thanks for the suggestion!**

**Right, okay, on with the story!**

Springing to her feet, Hollystorm glanced fleetingly at the herbs and the rabbit, and grabbed the pile of leaves in her jaws and seized the rabbit under her chin, before hurtling after Deeppaw. She weaved through the trees, her paws thudding painfully on the ground with each bounding step she took. She was hot on the medicine cat apprentice's trail, and could just see his tail disappearing through a clump of ferns, before disaster struck. The heavy rabbit slipped from under her chin and fell to the ground, the fierce momentum propelling it towards her back legs. Hollystorm fell as itgot caught around her foot, and she was sent cartwheeling violently into a tree-trunk. She sat by the tree in a daze, sooty fur caked in dust and mud. As soon as the world stopped spinning, she leapt to her paws and whirled around, desperately scenting the air, but all traces to show that Deeppaw had travelled through this part of the forest had gone. Despondently, she picked up the rabbit, noticing that all the herbs had been scattered about the forest floor. She couldn't care less. She had missed her chance of catching Deeppaw alone, and probably wouldn't find out what he was going to say to her. Twitching her whiskers to remove a fleck of mud from one, she began the long walk back to camp, the rabbit leaving a trail in the dust.

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"What is it now?" Jayfeather's rough, bad-tempered meow was an unwelcome sound to Hollystorm's ears, however she knew that it would be worse if she just strolled casually into his den and started a conversation with his apprentice.

"I need to see Deeppaw." Jayfeather looked at her sternly, which, Hollystorm thought, was a little weird, being stared at by a blind cat, but she rolled her eyes, muttering _For the sweet love of Starclan… _ and added,

"Please?"

"I'll get him." Jayfeather padded into his den, and Hollystorm strained to listen as he talked to deeppaw.

"Hollystorm wants to see you." No reply.

"Hollystorm wants to see you." Still no reply.

"Listen to me, you useless apprentice! Hollystorm wants to see you!"

"Tell her I'm feeling ill." For a brief few seconds, Hollystorm felt sympathetic towards the dark grey apprentice, however it didn't last long.

"Well you're obviously fine." Stated the medicine cat.

"Please, Jayfeather, just tell her I'm ill." There was a note of pleading to Deeppaws voice, and Hollystorm heard Jayfeather sigh.

"Alright." The blind medicine cat turned and left the den.

"He's ill. You can't see him." Anger rose up inside of Hollystorm and she narrowed her eyes.

"Fine!" she spat, stalking away. _Two can play at that game… _she growled to herself. The young warrior was so blinded with rage that she almost stood on Twigkit and Pigeonkit, who were sitting patiently by the warriors den. Their frightened squeals snapped her back to reality, and she opened her mouth to snap harsh words at whoever had disturbed her, but as she saw the two young kits, her gaze softened, and she purred.

"I'm guessing you want to play fox attack?" she asked, and the two bundles of fur nodded eagerly. Hollystorm dropped low to the ground and snarled, baring her teeth fiercely.

"Run, run little kits! The bad old fox is coming to eat you up!" with that, Hollystorm pounced towards Ivypool's two kits, and they scattered, squealing in excitement. The two kits then jumped on her back, and she stomped around, roaring. Suddenly, she let out a squeak and flopped to the ground. The two kits jumped off, laughing happily.

"We beat the fox! We beat the fox!" they chanted, hopping in circles around her. Hollystorm grinned and sprung back to her feet.

"Not so fast!" she growled knocking Twigkit over and pinning him gently to the ground. she then buried her nose in his neck, and the little kit fell about laughing, squirming and batting at his attackers ears.

"Stop it! It tickles!" he squealed between laughs. Bramblestar was watching the game with amusement in his eyes, but he let out a shocked exclamation as Frostkit darted from the nursery, straight towards the friendly scuffle between Hollystorm and Twigkit. The white kit raked her needle-like claws across the young warrior's cheek, and then pounced on her head, claws pricking against her skin. A surprised expression flashed across Hollystorm's gaze and she shook the kit loose, her cheek stinging from the blow frostkit had delivered. She wiped the area tentatively with a paw, and recoiled at the sight of a smear of blood wetting the fur. She turned towards the white kit, expecting to see a look of shame or remorse, however she only saw pride in the young kit's icy blue eyes. Hollystorm then turned towards Bramblestar, who wore a look of pure fury on his battle-scarred face. The Thunderclan leader opened his mouth to speak, but Frostkit's smooth, dangerous voice interrupted him.

"You can't punish me! I'll succeed you, Bramblestar, mark my words! Punish me, and you'll regret it!"

**A/N: I hope you liked it! I've only just noticed that I've actually got over 50 reveiws, I never expected this story to become so popular! Please review! **

**For the last time in 2013, Storm signing out!**


	21. Chapter 20: new warriors

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

**A/N: happy New Year! Now, on with the reviews! **

**Mybrokenheart123: 'Snap' indeed!**

**Graystorm11: agreed! Happy New Year!**

**The darkness inside me: I think you might be on to something! We'll find out soon!**

**8hollysplash8: thanks! Happy New Year!**

**Shadowfur1017: is he? I agree about frostkit!**

**Creekfur: Thanks! I agree!**

**Okay, on with the story!**

All eyes around the camp fixed on Frostkit, who surveyed them defiantly, with a look in her eyes that could freeze fire solid. For a sudden, brief second, Hollystorm was reminded of snowtuft; the white kit had adopted the same, deadly cold glaring posture, fur raised and claws scoring deep into the earth.

"Frostkit, Ivypool, Squirrelflight, my den. Now." There was a dangerous calm authority about Bramblestar's voice as he spoke, yet Hollystorm could see the pure fury that blazed in his eyes. Suddenly, Cherrytail leapt onto the highledge beside the clan leader, and whispered a few hasty words in his ear, before landing back on the ground gracefully. The clan leader smiled and opened his mouth to speak, seeing as most cats had already gathered, drawn in to see what would become of Frostkit.

"Cherrytail has just informed me that Briarpaw and Pebblepaw have recently passed their warrior assessments, and are ready to become full warriors of thunderclan. Briarpaw, step forwards." An excited, kit-like squeal came from the back of the camp, and Briarpaw bounded forwards, a grin plastered on her face, but after receiving a stern look from Cherrytail, she composed herself, and walked formally up to where Bramblestar was standing. Pebblepaw soon followed, though she was slightly more controlled about her excitement.

"I, Bramblestar, call upon my ancestors to look upon these apprentices. They have trained hard to understand your noble code, and I present them to you as a warrior in their turn. Briarpaw; do you promise to uphold the warrior code, even at the cost of your life?"

"I do!" replied the ecstatic apprentice, ending in a squeak. A faint smile seemed to pass across Bramblestar's face; however it soon was gone in almost an instant, as pebblepaw made her reply, as all formality was returned to the ceremony. Bramblestar continued his speech.

"Then, from this moment forward, you shall be named Briarheart. Starclan honours your energy and enthusiasm. Pebblepaw, from this moment, you shall be named Pebblewing. Starclan honours your kindness and willingness to help. Tonight, you shall sit a silent vigil over the camp." Cheers began to rise into the air, but the huge tabby leader silenced them with a swish of his tail.

"Before we celebrate, Jayfeather also has an announcement." The blind medicine cat leapt onto the Highledge.

"Tonight, me and Deeppaw will visit the moonpool with the other medicine cats, and he will receive his full name before starclan. That is all." Jayfeather landed on the ground and padded back to his den. Bramblestar dismissed the clan, and cats flooded to congratulate Pebblewing, Briarheart and Deeppaw, However, as Hollystorm approached the medicine cat apprentice, he bowed his head, flicked his ears awkwardly and shuffled away. A new wave of anger swept over Hollystorm and she turned her back on her former friend to go and congratulate the two new warriors, who seemed embarrassed at all the attention they were receiving.

"I knew you'd do it!" she purred to them, a smile on her face.

"Thanks!" the two sisters meowed in unison.

"Umm, You two? Do you think there's something up with Deeppaw recently? He keeps acting kind of weird." Hollystorm asked, but the two grey she-cats looked confused.

"No, I've not noticed anything…"

"Never mind. How about I go and make you up a nest in the warriors den?" Briarheart and Pebblewing nodded gratefully, and the dark-furred warrior padded over to the medicine den, where the moss was kept, and came across Deeppaw, who froze at the sight of her and darted forwards, pushing past her and running out into the forest. Hollystorm rolled her eyes and began to gather up the moss, scooping it up and tucking it under her chin. She then carried it into the warriors den and organised it into neat circles, checking carefully for thorns or dampness as she went, a habit most warriors developed after moons of caring for the elders, who seemed to expect nothing but the softest of nests. Dusk was beginning to fall outside as Hollystorm stepped back to admire her work, shaking loose clumps of moss from between her claws. The sooty she-cat's jaws parted in a yawn, and she flopped down into her own nest, only disturbed by a shriek of protest that came from the leaders den.

_I guess Frostkit got her just-deserves… _she thought, before drifting into a dreamless sleep.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! I want to thank 8hollysplash8 and shadowfur1070 for contributing Pebblewing and briarheart's names, and I think we may find out the reason behind Deeppaws…odd…. Behaviour in the next chapter…**

**Review! **

**Storm signing out for the **_**first**_** time in 2014!**


	22. Chapter 21: Deeppaw's confession

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

**Shadowfur1017: you'll find out soon. I think everyone feels that way about Frostkit!**

**Mybrokenheart123: She is a naughty kit, isn't she!**

**The darkness inside me: we'll find out very soon if you're right!**

**I3Squirlflight: thanks, and here's your chapter!**

**Yoyobleeps: Thanks! I don't think Bramblestar could believe it either!**

**The cat: yes, I had realised that, I was just trying to make her sound **_**very **_**ambitious, and I guess I went a bit overboard! I think things might settle down now she has had a talking-to from Bramblestar! I didn't actually think of what role chasepaw would have in the story after his death. He could though!**

**Yay! So many reviews! This chapter should be an interesting one…**

The next morning, Deeppaw padded into the camp alongside Jayfeather, his chest puffed out proudly, and his eyes shining with wonder. His new name, Deeppool was then announced, causing great cheers to be called to the sky. But Hollystorm was absent from the celebrations, and her voice did not join the cheers, as she truly believed that this was the end of the long-standing friendship between her and Deeppool. The fact that he refused to look her in the eye, never mind speak to her sent waves of anger and sadness crashing over the young warrior, and she spent most of the following days wandering aimlessly about the forest, cracking twigs underpaw and scaring away prey. But then, days later, Deeppool surprised Hollystorm.

"Umm, hi Hollystorm…" he murmured, and the long-furred she-cat's head shot upright in surprise.

"Oh, hi Deeppool!" she meowed, trying to sound cheery and cover up the surprise that threatened to lace her voice.

"I-I was wondering if you wanted to help me gather herbs?" Hollystorm noticed suddenly how nervous the new medicine cat looked, eyes darting side to side and tail twitching.

"Yeah, sure!" she replied, getting to her paws. She was glad that Deeppool was talking to her, and she smiled warmly at him. At that gesture, the grey tom flinched away, suddenly quickening his pace.

"Erm… let's get going." He meowed, the words tumbling out faster than usual as they walked through the spiny gorse tunnel. Hollystorm noticed how Deeppool hung back as she padded out of the camp, and as she looked back, he seemed to be whispering to himself. The dusky cat strained to hear, but she couldn't catch any of his words. The two cats journeyed through the forest in silence, and once they were quite far from the camp, Deeppool suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked deep into Hollystorm's eyes. She shied away, ducking her head, suddenly feeling extremely awkward.

"Hollystorm?" asked Deeppool, as the warrior lifted her head again.

"Hmm?" she mumbled distractedly, looking up as a thrush flew above their heads, its melodic call adding a strange atmosphere to the situation.

"What would you do if a cat said they loved you?" Hollystorm stared at Deeppool, confused.

"Well, it depends if I liked them or not." She replied, bemused that Deeppool had brought up such a peculiar subject.

"And what would you do if I said that I loved you?" Hollystorm opened her mouth to reply, but then her eyes widened and she stumbled backwards.

"No…" she whispered, shaking her head as she looked Deeppool square in the eyes.

"Oh starclan no!" she searched the medicine cat's face desperately, trying to find something that would tell her that it was nothing more than a joke, but all she could see was the love that shone in his eyes. Hollystorm turned to run, but Deeppool intercepted her, desperation shown clearly on his face.

"Please, Hollystorm. I know you probably don't feel the same way, but at least let me explain." Hollystorm nodded and sat down numbly, shock kicking into her system.

"I-It all started when you defeated Snowtuft." Began Deeppool nervously, glancing around the clearing in case anyone was listening, but his checks proved that they were alone, so he continued.

"After that, I started seeing things about you that I had never seen before; the way your laugh sounds like running water, the way your scent smells like wildflowers, the way your eyes shine in the sunlight; and I always tried to deny it: I'm a Medicine cat! But then it all became too much, and I tried to get you alone so I could tell you how I really felt…"

"So that was what you were trying to tell me in the clearing!" exclaimed Hollystorm, as everything fell into place. Deeppool nodded sadly and continued.

"I felt such a mouse-brain after that, and I couldn't bear talking to you in case I made a fool of myself again…" Deeppool trailed off, and looked into Hollystorm's eyes.

"I want you to tell me the truth." He meowed, closing his eyes as if in regret.

"Do you feel the same way?" A sudden rush of emotion overcame Hollystorm and she suddenly realised something that her mind had been trying to hide for so long. _I love him too…_ But she squeezed her eyes shut tight, reminding herself that he was a medicine cat, and that it was against the warrior code she cherished so dearly.

"I-I'm sorry Deeppool." She whispered, the regret and sorrow clear in her voice.

"I'm sorry, but it would never work out… I'm so sorry, but I just can't do this…" and with that, she turned and fled, tears coursing down her face, trying to push away the image of Deeppool's hurt expression, telling herself over and over:

_Don't look back…. Don't look back…. Don't look back…._

**A/N: ergh. I'm really bad at writing romantic scenes! I just don't do that kind of stuff well! But I am really glad that I've got to this chapter! I've been waiting to get this development out since I first came up with the idea after about chapter three, and it's finally done! I feel kind of guilty now though, because, although he's only a product of my imagination, I feel really bad for going and breaking poor Deeppools heart!**

**Storm signing out!**


	23. Chapter 22: Accusation

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

**Shadowfur1078: I know; I still feel bad about doing that to poor Deeppool!**

**Graystorm11: Thankyou! **

**The darkness inside me: I was considering making it all mushy and 'I love you too!' but, knowing Hollystorm, that's not too likely! Here's your update!**

**Hollylover: I'm sure you're not that bad! Thanks anyway!**

**8Hollysplash8: yay long reviews again! Thankyou for the support of the story, and I think the Deeppool/Fallen leaves idea is cool! I love Hollyleaf X Fallen leaves too!**

**Windblade: Is that a bad thing?! I hope not…**

**Warrior power: That fine! I'm glad to know you are supporting the story!**

**Right, this is skipping ahead a few days to the night of the gathering, just as a warning!**

"…And Honeypaw!" Bramblestar finished listing who would be attending the gathering, and he jumped down from the high-ledge, going to join Squirrelflight at the fresh-kill pile, where she was tucking into a mouse. Hollystorm had noticed how friendly the two had become over the past moon, constantly talking, patrolling and eating together. _There may be more kits in the nursery soon…_ noted the young warrior, glancing towards the leader and deputy, who had immersed into a kit-like play-fight, laughing wildly. Hollystorm suddenly felt a twinge in her chest at the sight of the two cats, rolling about together. _Me and Deeppool used to play like that…_ she sighed sadly to herself. She glanced over to the medicine cat den, wincing at the sight of the formerly cheerful and energetic tom slumped listlessly in the opening to the medicine den, his eyes glazed over and lifeless. He had been like that since he had returned from the forest after his meeting with Hollystorm. He had sat down in his nest and refused to move even to eat, and cats were beginning to worry what was wrong with him. Hollystorm knew the cause all too well. Heartbreak.

"You know, Hollystorm…" a voice behind her back made the long-furred warrior leap to her feet in surprise. She whirled round, letting out a sigh of relief as she saw it was only Jayfeather, but the look in his eyes unsettled her, and she edged backwards, the fur along her spine rising up in fear.

"I've noticed something rather odd about you…" he drawled, fixing her with his signature blind, icy stare. Hollystorm shivered as he inhaled deeply.

"You smell _just _like my sister." Hollystorm's eyes widened in fear and she backed away further.

"I-I-I need to go and make dirt." She stammered hastily before darting away from Jayfeather, her heart racing. She ran and ran and ran, not knowing where she would end up, but she suddenly skidded to a halt, nearly overshooting and crossing the Windclan border. Hollystorm backed away, turning to run again, the meeting with Swallowtail still fresh in her mind, but then a horrifyingly familiar voice echoed into her head and she turned around in dread, staring at the calico form that had appeared in front of her.

"Chasepaw!" she exclaimed, shaking her head disbelievingly. Guilt weighed heavily in her mind as she recognised the part of the border she had arrived at.

"Welcome to my death-site, murderer." He meowed calmly.

"Still remember what you did, or do I need to remind you?" with that, he stamped his foot on the ground, a picture of a small, ragged apprentice lying on the ground, blood streaming out of his throat appeared beside him. Hollystorm tried to move. But found herself fixed to the ground, unable to lift her paws.

"You aren't going anywhere, at least not until I have delivered my message." Chasepaw's voice was cold and cruel, and he looked Hollystorm directly in the eye.

"It is coming!" he hissed, a sense of cold madness clear in his voice.

"The forest will run with rivers of blood, and the clan will be killed from within! If you think the danger is gone from the forest, think again." And with that, there was a blinding flash, and Chasepaw was gone. Hollystorm collapsed to the ground, shock sending tremors throughout her body. She Didn't know how long she lay for, face down in the leaf litter, but she was aroused from her dreamlike state when a paw prodded her in the back, and she looked up to see the patrol of cats leaving for the gathering. The look on Bramblestar's face was demanding answers as to why she was lying slumped on the ground at the Windclan border, and she searched her addled mind desperately for an excuse. Nobody would believe her if she told them a dead cat had come and told her of Thunderclans impending doom.

"I-I went to get some fresh air, and I s-spotted a rabbit, and I chased it, but ran into a tree." She gabbled out swiftly, but Bramblestar seemed convinced and gestured to the back of the group.

"Come on. We're late already."

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The other three clans had already accumulated on the island, and looked up expectantly as the Thunderclan cats flooded into the clearing. Hollystorm noticed the absence of Blackstar as she settled beside Pebblewing, Briarheart and two young cats from Riverclan. They nodded in greeting as Mistystar's yowl rose into the night, signalling the start of the gathering.

"Quiet please! I will start with my report! Prey is good in Riverclan, and we have had two new warriors named; Mossfeather and Swiftstream!" Cheers rose up above the treetops, and Hollystorm noticed that the two warriors she was sitting beside were sitting up straight, pride clear in their eyes. She cheered a bit louder.

"We also have two new kits, Ospreykit and Pikekit, born to Icewing. That is all I have to report. Bramblestar you can-" Mistystar was cut off as a dark ginger tom clawed his way up the tree and stood beside Onestar, his fur bristling.

"Prey stealers!" He hissed, raking the shocked crowd with a scathing green glare. Outraged yowls rose into the air, as Mistystar rounded on the imposter, hissing,

"Rowanclaw! What in the name of Starclan do you think you're doing!?" The Frenzied tom cat shot her a deadly look, and yowled,

"It's Rowan_star_ now! And I'm here to stop you threatening my clan!"

**A/N: Wow. A lot goes on in that chapter! Hope you enjoyed it! Review!**

**Storm**


	24. Chapter 23: mentor and apprentice

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

**Hollyfeather: Yep! Things might get interesting now…**

**Warrior power: I know; I'm so mean to poor Hollystorm!**

**YoYoBleeps: I know! We get to find out what happens now…**

**8Hollysplash8: Thanks! I never flame on stories either, because I know how much I'd hate it if someone did it to me!**

**Creekfur: If you remember, Blackstar was old in the last hope, and I think he was on his final life, so I guess he just died of old age. Rowanstar is very bad!**

**OceanBlueSeaEyes: Thankyou!**

**Krystal lynn: It's started again now!**

**Graystripe XD: Thanks! I can't do that in this chapter, but it may happen soon…**

**Goldenleaf20: That's fine, but thanks!**

"I don't care if you're a leader now! You have no excuse to come storming up here and accuse us all of stealing!" Bramblestar's outraged yowl split the air, and Mistystar and Onestar nodded in agreement.

"You have no right to accuse us of something we haven't done!" Reedwhisker, the riverclan deputy's hoarse cry was directed at the new shadowclan leader, his eyes defiant, despite the white fur that now peppered his aging muzzle.

"Yes! We haven't so much as set a paw over your stinking border!" Hollystorm winced as Berrynose's arrogant statement was shouted from the back of the crowd. All shadowclan cats within a fox-length from him all turned, hissing and spitting.

"Silence!" The whole clearing fell silent to look at Jayfeather, who was looking up at the moon. He fixed Rowanstar with an angry glare, and then swept his gaze over the clearing. Every cat seemed suddenly afraid, and Hollystorm ducked to avoid his blind, piercing eyes.

"Have you all got bees in your brains? Look at the moon! Starclan is angry!" Hollystorm glanced upwards to see wisps of cloud beginning to obscure the orb-like form of the moon, and then looked back at Jayfeather, who was staring at the clan leaders.

"I would end this gathering now." Warned the medicine cat, lashing his tail side to side.

"Or we may end up with a war on our paws." With that, he looked accusingly at Rowanstar, then began to push his way out of the clearing. Bramblestar soon followed, leaping elegantly down from his perch and summoning the thunderclan cats with a kink of his tabby tail.

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===*Four moons later….*===

Hollystorm yawned, stretching out luxuriously in her nest. Greenleaf sunlight filtered through the roof of the warriors den, making the nests warm and comfortable. She could hear Twigkit's excited voice drifting across the clearing, and she remembered; _today is their apprentice ceremony! _She reflected back on her own apprentice ceremony; the rush of excitement, the feeling of pride, the nervousness, the thrill and the extreme sense of being free. She sighed wistfully, recalling her days as an apprentice, young and carefree. Her flow of thoughts was abrupt, however, as Bramblestar's summons splintered into her dreamlike state, and she padded into the clearing, chuckling at the sight of Pigeonkit with his paw on Twigkit's tail, obviously in an attempt to stop the little brown kit from bouncing in excitement. Even Frostkit looked delighted. _Maybe I was wrong about her…?_ Mused Hollystorm as she settled down beside honeyfur, who had been made a warrior a moon ago, however her sister, Featherpaw, was still an apprentice, after she missed a valuable chunk of training after breaking her leg by falling over the edge of the stone hollow.

"I have gathered you all to perform one of the most enjoyable duties a clan leader can perform, the making of apprentices. Twigkit, Pigeonkit and Frostkit, step forwards." The three kits advanced towards the highledge, each showing a different emotion. Twigkit was practically quivering in excitement; Pigeonkit was looking side to side nervously, and Frostkit had her head held high, eyes gleaming with pride.

"Twigkit, until you receive your warrior name, you shall be known as twigpaw. Rosepetal, you have shown great courage and skill. I hope you pass these qualities on to Twigpaw." The newly named twigpaw seemed fit to burst with excitement as he touched noses with his new mentor.

"Pigeonkit, until you receive your warrior name, you shall be known as Pigeonpaw. Hollystorm, you have amazing hunting and fighting skills. Pass these virtues on to Pigeonpaw." At the sound of her name, Hollystorm's head shot up, a glimmer of surprise flickering across her eyes. Realisation crashed onto her, and she shook with delight. _Me! A mentor!_ She practically bounced over to the Highledge, a huge grin plastered on her face. Pigeonpaw looked equally delighted as he pressed his nose against hers.

"I'll make you proud…" he murmured to Hollystorm as he padded away, and a glow of pride lighting in her chest. _I'm sure you will…_

"And, finally, Frostkit, until you receive your warrior name, you shall be known as Frostpaw. Squirrelflight, you are one of the most loyal deputies a leader could ever have, and I hope you can show Frostpaw the-"

"No!" Frostpaw's furious yowl interrupted Bramblestar, and all the cats in the clearing looked at her with horror in their eyes.

"What did you say, Frostpaw?"Bramblestar's voice was deadly calm, but the fury was clear in his eyes.

"I said no! I will _not _be mentored by a half Kittypet! She won't train me to be a warrior; she'll train me to be soft!"

"That is ENOUGH!" even Frostpaw had fear in her eyes as Bramblestar yowled high above the tree-tops, his eyes blazing with fury and his claws scraping into the rock.

"Frostpaw, from now on, you will remain as Frostkit. You will not become an apprentice for another moon. You will remain in the nursery as a punishment for your…" He paused, obviously searching for the right word to use.

"…insolence." He finished. Frostkit stared at him with a scowl plastered on her face.

"Just you wait…" Hollystorm heard her mutter under her breath, before she stalked off into the nursery, tail lashing in anger.

**A/N: oooh! Bad Frostkit/paw! Hollystorm's a mentor now! I'm so happy now though, because I have 87 reviews! I never**_** ever**_** expected this to become so popular! Thankyou so much! Storm**


	25. Chapter 24: Touring the territory

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

**GraystripeXD: thank you!**

**8Hollysplash8: thank you so much!**

**Leaffrost101: It was a bit un-called for, wasn't it!**

**OceanBlueSeaEyes: I know!**

**Creekfur: I guess she **_**really**_** hates Kittypets!**

"Erm… Hollystorm? What do we do now?" Hollystorm looked down to see Pigeonpaw, shuffling his paws uncomfortably, clearly shocked by his sisters sudden out-burst. The black warrior was equally as shocked, and the way Frostkit had looked at Bramblestar, cold and murderous, had deeply chilled her. She let a small shiver pass across her body before standing up and informing Pigeonpaw that they would be taking a tour of the territory. The small grey tom bounced excitedly, and then composed himself before padding sensibly out of the camp beside his new mentor. The two cats walked leisurely down to the lake, and when he saw it, Pigeonpaw gasped.

"It's huge!" He exclaimed, staring in pure wonder at the surface of the lake, rippling gently in the breeze. Hollystorm laughed gently. She had experienced seeing the majesty of the lake for the first time twice, and knew better than any-cat how it could take the breath away.

"Come on. I'll show you the sky oak now." Pigeonpaw seemed to find it hard to drag himself away from the hypnotic shimmering of the lake surface, but he eventually tore his gaze away and skipped after Hollystorm, who soon stopped and gestured to a gnarled old tree that towered way above any other tree as far as the eye could see. Suddenly, Hollystorm spotted movement amongst the branches.

"Look, Pigeonpaw." She whispered, pointing out the rustling amongst the leaves.

"What can you scent?" Pigeonpaw looked confused as he inhaled deeply, but the cause of the movement became clear as Featherpaw's head stuck out from amongst the leaves.

"Hi!" she called down cheerily, twitching her whiskers in an amused way.

"I'm just practising my climbing!" Pigeonpaw laughed and pointed out to Featherpaw that she had a leaf on her head.

"Well, how do you know it's not camouflage?" retorted the older apprentice mockingly.

Hollystorm laughed. This was probably one of the oddest conversations she had probably ever witnessed in her two lifetimes; one cat was halfway up a tree with a leaf on her head, and the other was on the ground, leaning back so far to see up the tree that he looked as if a breeze could fell him!

"Right, that's enough!" laughed Hollystorm, glancing between the two cats.

"I'll show you the mossy hollow now. That's where you'll do most of your battle training." The walk to the hollow was a fairly long one, but Pigeonpaw seemed full of excited energy. The clearing was empty when the two cats reached it, but the marks of its use were clear, scratches in the dirt from claws, and loose moss on the walls that had been dislodged in scuffles between cats.

"We'll come back here another time; maybe tomorrow, but now I'll show you the abandoned twoleg nest, where Jayfeather farms catmint and other herbs. Hollystorm shuddered inside at the mention of Jayfeather. Ever since the day of the gathering, four moons ago, he had been giving her strange, knowing looks, and she had tried desperately to avoid him. _If he finds out who I am…_ she trailed away at the thought.

"Hollystorm? Why have we stopped?" Hollystorm snapped back to reality, to see Pigeonpaw staring at her with concern in his eyes.

"We were walking and you just stopped and looked all distant." He explained, obviously worried.

"I'm sorry." The dusky she-cat apologised.

"I was just thinking things over." The dark grey apprentice seemed satisfied that she was okay, and fell in beside her. The leaves of the trees cast dappled shadows on the ground, and the grass was laden with dew, sparkling in the sunlight.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" questioned Pigeonpaw, inhaling deeply to admire the fragrance of the flowers. Suddenly, he wrinkled his nose.

"What is that?!" he exclaimed, a disgusted expression on his face.

"It's the scent of Shadowclan. We're near the border, so be careful." Pigeon paw nodded and glanced nervously to the side, as if expecting a Shadowclan warrior to attack him at any second.

"Not stealing any prey, are we?" A snidely voice greeted Hollystorm's ears, and she turned around angrily, narrowing her eyes at the light ginger tom leaning against a tree. Pigeonpaw jumped at the voice, and the tom narrowed his eyes, darting forwards as the startled apprentice tumbled over the scent line into Shadowclan territory.

"Rowanstar! Get off him!" Hollystorm yowled at the Shadowclan leader, who was pinning Pigeonpaw to the ground, a paw at his throat.

"Why should I? He could be stealing prey!" Hissed Rowanstar, baring his teeth.

"He's only an apprentice." Hollystorm reasoned, praying to starclan that Rowanstar would be merciful.

"It's his first time out of camp, and I don't think he even knows how to hunt." Rowanstar paused for an excruciatingly long time, before nodding slowly.

"Very well. But if I _Ever _catch him on the wrong side of the border, he'll be crowfood before he can pray to Starclan to save his wretched life." Hollystorm winced as Rowanstar shoved Pigeonpaw over the border. Pity blossomed in the warrior's heart as she saw the terrified look in her apprentice's eyes, and the way his legs were quivering with fear. Hollystorm lay her tail across his back and gently lead him away from the border.

"I-I'm sorry…" sighed Pigeonpaw as soon as they were out of earshot of the border.

"I shouldn't have gone near the border. I've let you down." He meowed sorrowfully, hanging his head.

"Pigeonpaw, every cat makes mistakes, and you can't punish yourself for making them. You have learned a valuable lesson today, and that is what matters." Hollystorm's words seemed to reassure the crestfallen apprentice, and he smiled faintly.

"Thanks." He whispered gratefully, before breaking into a sprint, calling over his shoulder

"Race you back to camp!"

**A/N: Great Starclan; 92 reviews! Can we make it 100? We shall have to find out! I now need suggestions for Featherpaw's warrior name (I'm really bad at coming up with names myself!). Also, on my profile, I've posted a character profile sheet for the main characters in this story, if you want to check that out too! Review! Storm**


	26. Chapter 25: Deeppool

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

**Oceanblueseaeyes: agreed!**

**Mybrokenheart123: Thanks!**

**Hollyleaf is cool: Thanks for the suggestion!**

**Olivialynn1999: Not really possible, because she actually does love Deeppool, remember? Sorry though!**

**Graystripe XD: Thankyou!**

**Wyldclaw: We will find out all of that soon! Thankyou for the suggestions!**

**Shadowfur1017: Thanks! I agree about Rowanstar!**

**The darkness inside me: Thankyou! Jay **_**is **_**getting close! Here's the next chapter!**

**8Hollysplash8: Thankyou! I don't think their kin either… Hmm…**

**Scourge: Oh well! Rowanstar is kind of cool, I suppose…?**

**Random kittypet: Thanks for the suggestion!**

**A huge thankyou to Wyldclaw for being my 100dth reviewer!**

"That was great, Pigeonpaw, but you need to put a bit more power behind the swipe!" Hollystorm called advice to her new apprentice as he practiced battle moves with Twigpaw in the mossy hollow. The young grey tom however, seemed reluctant to raise a paw against his brother, and was hesitant in almost all of his battle moves. They were practicing the basic moves: Front-paw strike, Front-paw blow and the teeth grip. Rosepetal and Hollystorm were supervising and giving advice to the two apprentices as they sparred together.

"Right, let's try the Front-paw blow again." Called Rosepetal, the dark cream she-cat halting Twigpaw as he had just raised his paw to swipe at his brother. He then adjusted his position and braught his paw clattering down onto Pigeonpaw's head. The grey tom slipped and fell onto his stomach, grumbling something under his breath before springing back to his feet and clouting his brother about the head. Twigpaw seemed unfazed by the heavy blow, and simply lay in the dirt, laughing softly. Pigeonpaw nosed his brother, who flopped over, still giggling.

"Oh great." Sighed Rosepetal, rolling her eyes at the incapacitated apprentice.

"Drag him up here. I think you hit him a bit _too_ hard." Pigeonpaw cast a guilty glance at Hollystorm, then seized Twigpaw's scruff and hauled him out of the hollow. The pale brown apprentice stood up, staggered around then collapsed onto his back, batting feebly at something invisible in the air. Hollystorm tried not to giggle, but she was reminded of the time she and Lionblaze had discovered Jayfeather's catnip when they were apprentices…. She trailed away with a laugh, and Rosepetal looked at her sternly.

"I'll whack you senseless in a second." She threatened, but even her tail was twitching in amusement. She padded over to Twigpaw and picked him up by the scruff, carrying him off into the forest. Pigeonpaw looked to Hollystorm for permission, and when she nodded her head, he charged away, and the dusky warrior was left alone in the forest.

"Hi…" Hollystorm snapped her head around to see Deeppool, his head lowered in embarrassment, Ears and tail lowered to the ground. The young warrior instantly adopted the same, awkward position. She and Deeppool had tried desperately to rekindle their friendship as it had been when they were apprentices, but the fragile bonds they had created seemed to have been lost or destroyed. Hollystorm twitched her whiskers, tail swishing awkwardly.

"You know, this is just stupid!" exclaimed Deeppool suddenly, exasperation clear in the tone of his voice.

"Can't we just accept how we feel about each-other? Can't we just enjoy life?" Hollystorm was unsure whether the grey tom was talking to her or himself, but the words he spoke seemed to strike her deep inside, and reawaken the emotions she had hidden for so long. She shook her head sorrowfully.

"It's against the code! We can't do it!" she whispered sadly, but Deeppool, for the first time in moons, looked her directly in the eyes.

"No-cat would find out, though." He reasoned, his eyes glittering with love.

"Just once? For me?" Hollystorm hesitated, but she couldn't avoid the crystal-like gaze of Deeppool, and she pushed her nose against his head and purred.

"Just once." Deeppool smiled and bounced happily, before racing away into the forest. Hollystorm followed, a whoop of joy rising into the air as she felt the wind rushing through her fur and streaming past her whiskers. A look of joy was clear on her face as she sped in beside Deeppool and felt his pelt brush against hers. The simple contact sent sparks through her fur and she whipped her tail happily. The two cats raced through the forest, each cheering in pleasure, when Deeppool bowled into Hollystorm, knocking her off her paws. The two young cats collapsed into a giggling heap, lying in the leaf-litter, heads pressed together lovingly. The medicine cat stretched out a paw and covered Hollystorm's eyes.

"What are you doing!" she laughed, squirming away from his paw. Deeppool looked at her deviously and whispered,

"Close your eyes. I want to show you something." Hollystorm obliged, closing her emerald eyes and walking forwards hesitantly, guided by the feeling of Deepool's pelt pressed against hers and his tail placed softly upon her shoulders. She suddenly felt the terrain turn rocky under-paw, and she glanced side to side, though unable to see anything.

"Open your eyes." Hollystorm blinked, and gasped in wonder. She was standing on a rocky outcrop, Deeppool pressed comfortingly against her, the lake stretching out beneath her, tinged scarlet by the light scattering across the sky from where the sun was slowly sinking below the horizon. Her eyes seemed to shimmer with wonder, and she leaned wordlessly against Deeppool, a sigh escaping her mouth.

"I love you…" Purred the grey tom, entwining his tail with his companion's. Hollstorm fixed Deeppool with a wonder-filled stare, and whispered softly,

"I love you too…"

**A/N: 105 reviews! Great starclan, I never expected to get so many. Yeah, I know this chapter is a bit…mushy…. But it is kind of necessary in the story. Let's just say it's a calm before the storm… Review please!**

**Storm! **


	27. Chapter 26: The truth emerges

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

**Graystorm11: Haha! Thanks!**

**The Darkness Inside Me: Go hollyXdeep! New chapter coming up!**

**Wyldclaw: They are pretty cute together, aren't they?!**

**OceanBlueSeaEyes: Thanks!**

**Olivialynn1999: Thanks! I am planning other fanfictions, but none of them are related to this story. I only planned it as a one-book thing, and I think it will stay that way. Sorry if that disappointed anyone!**

**8Hollysplash8: I suppose it was! Thanks!**

**Scourge: Haha! I'm not too keen on the mushy stuff either! Thanks for the names, and more drama coming up!**

**Graystripe XD: Thanks for the suggestions!**

Hollystorm and Deeppool emerged back at camp just as the sun sank below the horizon. They were both breathless and tired, but completely exhilarated from the evening run through the woods, then the touching experience on the cliff top. Bramblestar called over to them from the highledge as they passed, and the two cats looked up in unison, seemingly in synch after the experience they had just shared. The tabby leader leapt down from the ledge and purred at the sight of the warrior and the medicine cat padding side by side.

"So I see you are finally talking to each other again?" he asked, happiness glinting in his eyes. Hollystorm nodded eagerly and glanced knowingly at Deeppool, who flashed her a quick grin.

"We managed to settle our differences." Meowed the grey tom, flicking his tail towards Hollystorm as he said her name. The black she-cat purred softly, and Bramblestar swished his tail in dismissal. As the two cats turned away, he seemed to remember something, and called back.

"Hollystorm!" She whipped her head around, but froze as the amber-eyed tom spoke.

"Jayfeather wants to see you." Hollystorm's fur began to prick up along her spine, and she jumped away as she saw the blind tom padding towards her. She walked away swiftly, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, but Jayfeather caught up with her and ushered her away, hissing roughly,

"Move." The dusky she-cat was swept away by the medicine cat.

"And if anyone asks, we're gathering herbs." He added, and Hollystorm's eyes widened in fear and shock and she flinched. Jayfeather shoved her far into the forest, issuing harsh growls and warnings if she attempted to struggle away. Finally, he pushed her into a sitting position, and stood opposite her, an unusually perplexed look on his face. Jayfeather looked Hollystorm right in the eye, and then he spoke.

"I need you to tell me the truth." He growled, showing sharp, white teeth.

"Who are you?" Hollystorm froze again. She pondered the question in her head, part of her brain screaming at her not to tell him, but the other part urging her to tell the truth. She looked the medicine cat up and down. He looked a ferocious sight, Claws glinting in the moonlight, spiked fur ruffling in the breeze, eyes cold and distant. She made her decision.

"I was Hollyleaf." She replied, shuddering as she said the words Rock had forbidden her to ever say. Jayfeathers eyes seemed to cloud over, and his expression softened.

"Oh Hollyleaf…" He whispered, suddenly lunging towards her, as if to touch his nose to hers. Hollystorm ducked away, sending Jayfeather stumbling past her into a bush. He struggled away, a shocked look in his eyes. Hollystorm almost felt sorry for him, as he looked towards her like a kit that had just been told he couldn't be a warrior.

"Why…?" he whispered hoarsely, the simple word almost carried away on the wind.

"Why, Hollyleaf?" she shook her head, even though he couldn't see the gesture.

"No. I'm not Hollyleaf." Jayfeather looked confused.

"But you just said…" He trailed away.

"I'm not Hollyleaf." She repeated.

"I may have been once, but I'm my own cat now. Hollyleaf was me, but I'm different to her. I won't make the same mistakes that she did, I won't hurt as many cats as she did, and I won't have the same destiny as she did. I was once Hollyleaf, but now I am Hollystorm, and I will live a different life, with a different destiny." Hollystorm looked defiantly at Jayfeather, expecting to see anger or denial, but the only expression visible on his face was a small, sad smile. The grey medicine cat nodded slowly.

"I see now. I see it all. But if you ever find even the smallest bit of Hollyleaf left in you, tell her I miss her." With that, Jayfeather turned and ran into the night, obviously needing some time alone. Hollystorm also turned to leave; feeling like a great burden had been lifted.

The walk back to camp was seemingly peaceful, the silence of the night only broken by the occasional, low hoot of an owl, or the scurrying of mice in the undergrowth. Hollystorm closed her eyes in bliss at the sleep-lulling quietness, but, soon the peace was suddenly shattered by an ear-splitting cry.

"Shadowclan! Attack!" Hollystorm sprung into life, racing through the trees to get to the camp. By the time she burst through the gorse tunnel, the clan was already locked in battle, a writhing, screeching mass of fighting cats. The green-eyed warrior launched herself into the thick of the battle, tearing her claws across a young shadowclan warrior's ear. The cat yowled in pain and turned on her attacker, a furious whirlwind of brown fur and claws, Hollystorm felt anger boil up inside her as jaws snapped dangerously close to her neck, and she swung her paw at the Shadowclan cat's nose. Blood splattered the ground as the brown cat's nose was split in two, and she let out a howl of agony before racing away. Hollystorm flicked the blood from her claws, and plunged deeper into the battle. Suddenly, she saw the Shadowclan warrior Ferretclaw advancing towards the nursery. She tore forwards, pushing cats aside, but stopped in her tracks as she saw Frostkit race out of the nursery, eyes fixed on the cream and grey tom. Hollystorm winced, expecting the experienced warrior to make crowfood of the kit, but instead, the white she-cat slid under his lashing claws, skidding under him and raising a paw as she did so. Razor-like claws met belly-fur, and Ferretclaw yowled in agony as the kit slashed across his stomach, blood streaming out and pooling on the ground. Frostkit calmly padded away from the Shadowclan warrior's twitching form, flexing her claws to remove the blood. Shock clouded Hollystorm's mind. She had only seen that move in one place before.

And that was the Dark forest.

**A/N: Oooh! More cliffhangers! Things are getting dramatic now! Review please!**

**Storm!**


	28. Chapter 27: winning

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

**Goldenleaf20: uploading right now!**

**Graystorm11: I think Thistleclaw did that too…**

**Raindew: oh… sorry?**

**The Darkness Inside Me: I love Jayfeather too! He's my favourite cat in all the series! Thanks!**

**Sparksleaf: Ummm…. I'm pretty sure sorreltail was alive in the last hope… If she wasn't though, I want her to still be alive in this book, so she can stay as being alive.**

**Graystripe XD: That might not be possible, but if you get an account on fanfiction, you could use that idea in a warriors story of your own? **

**Scourge: same goes for you…. Sorry!**

Hollystorm ran towards Frostkit, planning to confront her, but she was violently jerked backwards, and she whirled round furiously to see scorchfur, his teeth sunk into her scruff. She thrashed about wildly, trying to loosen the grey toms grip, but he only bit harder. Hollystorm took a deep breath, and forced herself to go limp. _If it works on Snowtuft, then surely it will work for him._ She reassured herself, letting her head loll, legs dangle and eyes close. She felt herself fall unceremoniously to the ground, and she waited, before exploding upwards, lashing her claws across Scorchfur's cheek. She snapped her teeth at his neck, hissing softly. The Shadowclan warrior shrunk away, then darted off, tail between his legs. Hollystorm surveyed the battle scene again. She spotted Featherpaw and Pigeonpaw fighting back-to-back, fending off any attackers. _They work well together… _purred the black warrior, smiling despite the situation. Suddenly, she saw Honeyfur being pinned to the ground by a young white tom, and darted over, Barrelling into his side and knocking him away from the light ginger she-cat. Honeyfur nodded in thanks, scrambled to her paws and ran to assist her sister.

"I'd run before you find yourself with a clawed pelt." Growled Hollystorm warningly, lowering her head in a dangerous manner.

"Never!" hissed the white tom, launching himself at her. Hollystorm felt her fur ruffle on the top of her head as she ducked and the Shadowclan warrior was sent sailing over her head. He crashed to the ground, crumpling into an awkward heap. Slowly, the dusky warrior edged over towards where the cat had fallen, but recoiled in shock as he sprung upwards and sliced his claws across her forehead. Hollystorm hissed in pain and shook her head, sending droplets of blood splattering onto the ground. Rage seemed to consume her, and she raced towards the tom, claws outstretched, and sunk them into his neck. His eyes widened, and he scrabbled away, leaving a trail of blood in the dust. Suddenly, a yowl rose above the screeches and hisses of the battle. Hollystorm looked up to see Rowanstar, blood dripping from a gash on his forehead into his eye, the look of defeat on his face.

"Shadowclan! Retreat!" The battle seemed to freeze, and smaller fights broke apart. One cat padded over to collect Ferretfur's motionless form, and horror clouded into Hollystorm's eyes. _He's dead… _she realised. The Thunderclan cats let out excited yowls as the Shadowclan cats trudged out of the clearing, battered and injured. As soon as they had left, Bramblestar leapt onto the highledge.

"Can all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the highledge for a clan meeting!" He called. All the cats shuffled into place, and Hollystorm let out a sigh of relief that every cat seemed to be there.

"I have seen exceptional displays of bravery tonight, especially due to the fact that Shadowclan's attack was so unprovoked and unexpected. Because of that, I have an apprentice to be made a warrior, and a kit to be made an apprentice. Featherpaw, step forwards." The grey she-cat gave a little bounce on her paws as she walked up to Bramblestar.

"Featherpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code, even at the cost of your life?"

"I do"

"Then, by the powers of starclan, I give you your warrior name. Featherpaw, from this moment forwards, you shall be named Featherleap. Starclan honours your patience and bravery. Tonight you shall sit a silent vigil and guard the camp." Featherleap's eyes shone as she padded away from the ledge and sat down beside Honeyfur, who licked her sister's cheek affectionately.

"Also, although I said she would have to wait a moon to be apprenticed, Frostkit showed great bravery tonight whilst defending the nursery, so I believe that she is worthy of her apprentice name. Frostkit, from this moment forwards, you shall be called Frostpaw. Thornclaw, you have exceptional hunting and battle skills. Pass this on to Frostpaw." Thornclaw looked proudly at Frostpaw, and smiled as the white she-cat padded over to greet him, but Bramblestar called out.

"Wait! Frostpaw, if I hear one word of insolent or rude behaviour, it's back to the nursery for you." Cautioned the tabby leader, and Frostpaw lowered her head. Hollystorm saw her mutter something under her breath, and flinched.

_If Frostpaw is training in the dark forest, who knows what she could do to the clans…_

**A/N: I know this is a shorter chapter than usual, but I wanted to end the chapter at the point I did, so it had to be shorter! Thankyou to Wyldclaw for Featherpaw's name! Things should get interesting now that Frostpaw is an apprentice! Review!**

**Storm!**


	29. Chapter 28: Disaster

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

**OceanBlueSeaEyes: Thankyou!**

**The Darkness Inside Me: Haha! Thanks!**

**Wyldclaw: you're welcome! You'll find out soon…**

**8Hollysplash8: Thankyou so much!**

"Pigeonpaw, are you okay?" Hollystorm winced as Frostpaw slammed her brother into the ground for the third time in a row. The grey tom looked up from where he was splayed out on the ground and smiled weakly, before scrambling to his paws.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He meowed, flicking dust off his ear. Frostpaw looked at him smugly before turning back towards Thornclaw, who was sparring with Rosepetal to demonstrate a new move to Twigpaw and Featherleap.

"Can I try that move on you?" she asked sweetly, but as soon as Thornclaw nodded, she surged forwards, crashing into the senior warrior and forcing him to the ground. Thornclaw gasped in surprise at the force of his apprentice's attack, and thudded into the floor. Frostpaw stood above him, lips drawn back in a vicious snarl. The golden tabby tom chuckled and pushed his apprentice away.

"Alright, you win!" he laughed, before pulling himself to his paws. Frostpaw gave a triumphant smile, and Hollystorm flinched at the sudden, battle-hungry expression on the white she-cats face. _Just like snowtuft's… _the nagging voice in her head seemed to remind her. Hollystorm shook the thought away. Frostpaw was _ambitious_, but not _evil_. But the voice came again, this time reminding her of the battle two moons ago. _Frostpaw is training in the dark forest, remember? _An agitated expression crossed the warrior's eyes, and she hissed at the voice in her head_. Shut up!_ She suddenly looked up to see Pigeonpaw and Twigpaw staring at her.

"You blanked out again." Muttered Pigeonpaw quietly. Hollystorm straightened up, an embarrassed expression on her face.

"Sorry." She apologised hastily, ducking her head to avoid Rosepetal's scathing gaze.

"How about we practice the throw-defence?" she suggested, trying to regain her reputation. Thornclaw nodded approvingly.

"That's a good idea. That move has saved my pelt more times than I can count!" he commented, before beckoning to Hollystorm.

"Care to attack me?" he questioned, a smile forming on his lips. Hollystorm launched herself at the older warrior, tensing her muscles in preparation for the impact that was sure to follow. Thornclaw flipped over onto his back and lashed out with his back feet, sending Hollystorm spiralling out of control. She crashed into the ground violently, tumbling to the other side of the clearing. The black warrior then scrambled to her paws, shaking her fur to remove the dust.

"Right, into partners. Pigeonpaw and…. Featherleap, and Frostpaw and Twigpaw." Thornclaw instructed, swishing his tail to begin the session. Pigeonpaw and Featherleap looked at eachother desperately before starting to train. Pigeonpaw kicked out half-heartedly as the pretty grey she-cat launched herself at him, and only succeeded in making her crash on top of him. The two lay in a heap, giggling nervously, unable to scramble apart. Hollystorm watched as they finally pulled away, and accidently locked eye contact. Blue eyes met amber, and the two cats were sent into more giggles, dipping their heads awkwardly. Thornclaw and rosepetal seemed to be thinking the same thing as Hollystorm, and the two cats mouthed; _young love!_ At The black she cat, who closed her eyes and purred. A painful yowl brought Hollystorm back to her senses, and she looked swiftly to see Twigpaw lying crookedly on the ground, paws flung in the strangest of directions.

"Are you alright?" she asked, gesturing to his right paw, which was flung over his neck and laying to rest on his ear.

"I'm fine, just a bit…" the brown apprentice sought for a word.

"…Twisted." He finished, attempting to untangle himself. Suddenly, Frostpaw bounded over to him, and shoved him with her nose, sending him sprawling out madly in the dirt.

"Thanks." He growled sarcastically, and Frostpaw shot him a disgusted look.

"Can't I train with someone _strong _for once?" she drawled, absentmindedly drawing a tongue over one of her claws. Thornclaw suddenly looked furious, and yowled;

"You know, you shouldn't be so horrible to your brother! He's trying his best, and all you're giving him is ungratefulness and insolence!" Frostpaw narrowed her eyes dangerously, muttered something under her breath. Then she turned back to Twigpaw, and grinned.

"I _do _apologise, oh mighty Twigstar!" she smirked, her voice laden with sarcasm.

"Let's just get back to training…" sighed the brown apprentice wearily, trying to seem unfazed by what his sister had just said, but Hollystorm could see the hurt shining in his eyes. He leapt at Frostpaw, who manoeuvred fluidly onto her back and struck out with such force that it sent Twigpaw flying clean out of sight, crashing into the ferns and bushes that fringed the clearing. A strange look passed across Frostpaw's eyes, but it was gone in a heartbeat. She rolled her crystalline eyes and stated;

"I'll go and get him, before plunging into the bushes. Hollystorm suddenly felt uneasy. That look in the white apprentices eyes…. She had seen it somewhere before…. Suddenly, Hollystorm's thoughts were shattered by an ear-splitting scream, and Frostpaw raced back into the clearing, her eyes wild with fear. Rosepetal and Thornclaw sprung to their paws.

"What's wrong?! What's happened?!" they questioned, worry in their eyes. Frostpaw didn't scare easily, so something was clearly wrong… The white apprentice made strangled gasping noises, but eventually managed to force the words out.

"I-I-It's T-t-twigpaw!" she sobbed, squeezing her eyes shut.

"What's happened to Twigpaw!" exclaimed Pigeonpaw, his breath fast in his throat. Frostpaw blinked slowly, dread creeping into her gaze.

"He's dead…."

**A/N: Is that enough drama for you?! Anyway, I know it's another short chapter, but oh well! Also, I don't want **_**any**_** reviews going on about how Pigeonpaw and Featherleap are in some way distantly related, which I don't **_**think**_** they are, but you never know. Things like that happen a lot in the real warriors books, and I personally think that they are a cute couple, and I don't **_**care **_**if they are distant third cousins or something like that! Review pleeease, because I only got 4 reviews for my last chapter! Storm**


	30. Chapter 29: The truth about Frostpaw

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

**Snowstorm487: Hollystorm is not sure whether to tell Bramblestar about Frostpaw, because she trained in the dark forest herself earlier in the story, so knows that not all cats that train there are evil. Thanks for the suggestions!**

**Wyldclaw: we'll find out soon enough…**

**Graystorm11: Yay, you got it right! The truth will be revealed in this chapter…**

**OliviaLynn1999: thanks!**

**Shadowfur1017: I think most people feel the same way!**

**Feralclaw: Thanks!**

**OceanBlueSeaEyes: we'll find out in this chapter….**

**Raindew: Thanks for the suggestions!**

**I3 squirrelflight: Update right here! **

**8Hollysplash8: thankyou! **

Hollystorm let out a gasp and plunged towards the bushes, shouldering past Frostpaw and bounding up to Twigpaw's motionless form. A gaping wound was torn in his neck, and a branch lay beside him, drenched in blood. Pigeonpaw pushed his way into the bushes, let out a small sob and flung himself at his brother's still body, his eyes dull with grief. Frostpaw had sadness in her eyes as she looked solemnly at the scene before her.

"He fell onto that branch and cut his neck open. I couldn't do anything." Thornclaw, who had accompanied his apprentice into the clearing nodded, clearly upset.

"You're right. It was an unfortunate accident." The golden tom bowed his head as Hollystorm went over to comfort Pigeonpaw.

"Why did he have to die?" he asked as she approached; eyes dull and lifeless. Hollystorm was unsure whether he was talking to her, or someone else she couldn't see. The grey apprentice then closed his eyes and lay against his brother's body, limp and unmoving. The warrior looked around to see Featherleap gazing at Pigeonpaw, pity shining in her eyes. Hollystorm then lay down beside her apprentice and curled her tail around him. Twigpaw had been an important part in both their lives, but more so for the grey tom curled up beside her, who seemed stricken by grief. Rosepetal seemed equally as upset; her eyes seemed dull as she stared blankly at the broken body of the brown apprentice.

"Come on. We need to get Twigpaw back to camp." Thornclaw's voice was the first to break the heavy silence, and he padded towards where the brown apprentice lay in a pool of his own blood. Hollystorm slowly drew Pigeonpaw away, even the slightest of movements seeming difficult for the young cat, who seemed paralysed with grief.

As the five cats walked solemnly back to camp, flashbacks of Twigpaw's life came rushing through her mind, reminding her of what the young apprentice had once been.

_"This one shall be called twigkit." Decided ivypool, pointing to the brown mound of fur that was nuzzling its way into her stomach. _the first moments of Twigpaw's life came racing back.

_"Please can you play fox attack with us?" the little brown kit looked up at hollystorm with pleading amber eyes. _Hollystorm seemed to sway on her paws as she remembered the young cat's favourite game.

_Twigpaw seemed unfazed by the heavy blow, and simply lay in the dirt, laughing softly. Pigeonpaw nosed his brother, who flopped over, still giggling._

_"Oh great." Sighed Rosepetal, rolling her eyes at the incapacitated apprentice._

_"Drag him up here. I think you hit him a bit too hard." _Hollystorm almost chuckled as she remembered that moment, the dazed look on his face bringing back more and more painful memories. Before she knew it, the entrance to the camp loomed in sight, and Hollystorm took a deep breath. She knew Ivypool wouldn't take the news well, and the feisty warrior could do something unpredictable or dangerous.

"My kit!" the first noise they heard was the grey and white queen's frantic yowl, and the black warrior looked on as she dragged Twigpaw's body off Thornclaw's back, and lay it on the ground, chest heaving as she sobbed violently.

"My beautiful kit…" The queen suddenly trailed off and turned upon Hollystorm, face twisted into a hostile snarl.

"You did it, didn't you?! You murdered my kit!" The dusky warrior backed away, eyes wide with shock at the grief-maddened queen's sudden outburst.

"You trained in the dark forest! You must have murdered Twigpaw!" Ivypool suddenly lashed out, claws scoring deep marks across Hollystorm's face. The young warrior stumbled backwards, caught off guard by the vicious attack.

"Ivypool! What in the name of Starclan do you think you're doing?!" dovewing's yowl seemed to snap Ivypool back into sanity, and the queen fell back into a sitting position, eyes dull in sadness.

"I-I-I'm s-sorry…" sobbed the grey and white cat; eyes wide like a kit's.

"I-I don't know what I was doing…" Dovewing put her tail comfortingly over her sister's shoulder and let Ivypool lean on her.

"It'll be alright…" Hollystorm heard her whisper, and closed her eyes.

_I hope you're right, Dovewing…_

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Hollystorm eased out her cramped legs, and pressed her nose back against Twigpaw's scented fur. She had been sitting vigil for the dead apprentice for Starclan knows how long, and the night didn't seem to want to leave. Parting her jaws in a yawn, Hollystorm felt her eyelids grow heavy. Suddenly, a rasping voice spoke beside her, and she almost toppled over as she saw Rock settled down beside her, milky eyes glinting in the moonlight.

"Do you want to know the truth?" he rasped, showing a mouth full of crooked teeth. The black-furred warrior nodded eagerly, but the hairless cat's next remark puzzled her.

"Look between his claws, and all shall be revealed." Hollystorm looked around desperately, then froze in horror. All the cats around her seemed to be frozen, suspended in a single moment of time.

"What have you done to them?!" she hissed furiously, sweeping a fleeting glance over the motionless cats.

"I have merely stopped time." Remarked Rock, as if such a thing was no big deal, and then gestured towards Twigpaw's feet.

"Go on then…" he prompted. Hollystorm reached forwards and gasped. A single tuft of fur was caught between the apprentice's claws, and it was white.

"No… She couldn't! She wouldn't!" Hollystorm was in a state of shock. How could Frostpaw murder her own brother?!

"I wouldn't be so sure, Hollystorm. Have you ever looked closely at Frostpaw? Do it now, and tell me what you see." The emerald-eyed warrior squinted at the white apprentice. Those icy blue eyes and that pure white pelt did seem familiar… Then, in a single moment, something snapped, and everything fell into place.

"Snowtuft!" exclaimed Hollystorm, disbelief lacing into her voice.

"But-But Frostpaw is a _she-cat_! How can she be Snowtuft?!" Rock rounded on her, suddenly furious.

"That cat has Snowtuft's murderous ideas and rebellious attitude! Is that not enough for you?! Now do you see why Ivypool should have died?! She would never have given birth to this… Monster!" Rock yowled, egg-like eyes seeming to blaze with fire. Twisted claws slid out, and he dragged himself to his feet, scratching deep gouges in the dirt. Hollystorm met his eyes directly.,

"Take this time-freeze off right now. I need to see Bramblestar." Rock shook his head.

"You still don't understand, do you? Frostpaw will be exiled if you tell Bramblestar, and as rouge, with no cats to keep an eye on her, there will be more deaths than if she stays in the clan!"

"Wait!" demanded Hollystorm suddenly.

"What do you mean, 'More deaths'?" Rock chuckled darkly.

"Do you think that Frostpaw will be satisfied with just Twigpaw's murder?" he questioned, a menacing look in his gaze as he looked hollystorm directly in the eyes.

"This is just the beginning."

**A/N: cliffhanger! This chapter is quite a lot longer than usual, so I guess it kind of makes up for the two shorter chapters before it! Where will Frostpaw strike next? You'll have to find out… pleeeease review!**

**Storm**


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